KEEPING 

PHYSICALLY 

FIT 




Class 




Copyright))^: 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSm 



KEEPING PHYSICALLY FIT 



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THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO • DALLAS 
ATLANTA • SAN PEANCISCO 

MACMILLAN & CO., Limited 

LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA. Ltd. 

TORONTO 



KEEPING PHYSICALLY FIT 



COMMON-SENSE EXERCISES FOR THE 
WHOLE FAMILY 



BY 

WILLIAM J. gROMIE 

Instructor in Physical Education, University of Pennsylvania; 

Director of the Summer School Courses in Physical 

Education, University of Pennsylvania; 

Author of " Medicine Ball Exercises," 

" Single Stick Exercises," etc. 



WITH ILLUSTRATIONS 



Nm fork 

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

1916 

All rights reserved 






Copyright, 1914, and 1915 
By the outlook COMPANY 



Copyright, 1916 

By the MACMILLAN COMPANY 

Set up and electrotyped. Published January, 1916. 



^9^ 



JAN 13 1916 

©CI.A4184a4 



PREFACE 

In 1909 '^The Saturday Evening Post" pub- 
lished an article on ^'Fifteen Minutes Daily- 
Invested for Health," and in 1911 ^'The Out- 
look" printed a paper ^'Investing for Health." 

The commendatory letters, together with 
those seeking advice and additional information, 
as a result of these two manuscripts, from all 
parts of the United States and many foreign 
countries, has impelled me to write a series of 
articles on ^^Common-sense Exercise for Every 
Member of the Household." These, together 
with an article on physical fitness, were written 
and published in '^The Outlook." The chapter 
on '^ Deep-breathing" was published in ''Life 
and Health." 

After the publication of these papers they 
were extensively enlarged and revised and are 
now included in this volume in order that they 
may have a wider circulation and more perma- 
ment form. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER I 

EXEKCISE FOR THE BuSY MaN 1 

CHAPTER II 
Exercise for the Nervous Woman .... 32 

CHAPTER III 
Exercise for the Growing Child 59 

CHAPTER IV 
Deep-breathing Exercises . . . , . . 91 

CHAPTER V 
Additional Methods for Keeping Fit . .114 

CHAPTER VI 
Mind vs. Body 133 



vu 



KEEPING PHYSICALLY FIT 



"Sloth, like rust, consumes faster than labor wears." 

Franklin. 

"Nature knows no pause, and attaches a curse upon all 
inaction." 

Goethe. 

"To live long it is necessary to live slowly." 

Cicero. 

"It is part of the cure to wish to be cured." 

Seneca. 

"'Tis the mind that makes the body rich." 

Shakespeare. 

"The weaker the body the more it commands; the stronger 
the more it obeys." 

Rousseau. 



KEEPING PHYSICALLY FIT 
CHAPTER I 

EXERCISE FOR THE BUSY MAN 

Would you, Mr. Busy Business or Profes- 
sional Man, believe that you can gain and 
maintain physical efficiency by devoting but 
eight of the 1,440 minutes of each day to 
simple common-sense physical exercise? Well, 
whether you believe it or not, I shall go on 
record for making such a claim. If you will 
meet me half-way by following the instructions 
contained in this article, I shall by your own 
verdict at the end of one month prove my 
assertion. 

Who Needs Exercise? 

Every one, from the strongest athlete down 
to the bedridden invalid, needs a certain 
amount of muscular exercise. If one can do no 
more than practice deep breathing, then he 
should do so in order to assist nature in re- 
gaining his health and strength. The man 

1 




A B 

Fig. 1. — ^The Walking Exekcise 
To the left is A, walking with bent knees. Walk from 
the bed room to the bath room every morning for two or 
three weeks as in position A, then endeavor to walk with 
unbent knees as in position B. 



Exercise for the Busy Man 3 

who needs physical training most is he whom 
I addressed in opening this article, he who in 
his daily vocation performs much mental work, 
uses the mental machine almost to the exclu- 
sion of the muscular — who should aim to se- 
cure a little muscular exercise every day. He 
who teaches in school, he who works in the 
bank, the office, or leans all day over the 
drawing-board, will surely deteriorate physi- 
cally and mentally if exercise is neglected per- 
sistently. One who keeps a high pressure of 
steam in his mental boiler and who fails to 
provide a safety-valve in the form of exercise 
is in constant danger of becoming a victim of 
nervous prostration, sleeplessness, indigestion, 
anaemia. He sees the world through blue 
glasses, contracts colds more frequently, and, 
on account of the faulty elimination of im- 
purities which accumulate in the system, 
rheumatism and other ailments become mani- 
fest. On account of vitiated air in the office 
the busy brain- worker is more subject to con- 
stitutional disease, such as tuberculosis and 
pneumonia, than the outdoor worker, and he 
needs exercise in order to combat the tendency 
and danger of these diseases. The man work- 
ing in the mill, the shop, or the factory gets 



Exercise for the Busy Man 5 

muscular exercise; but, as it is usually con- 
fined to a certain group of muscles, and often 
performed in a cramped, imnatural position, 
he consequently needs physical training in 
order to strengthen and develop parts and to 
correct poor posture. 

Objections 

When the busy man is approached regarding 
the taking of exercise, he usually has or in- 
vents an excuse. The most common objection 
is, '^I am too busy." If you are sincere in that 
statement, Mr. Busy Man, if it is not that 
you are too indolent, then I wish to say that 
you are making the mistake of your life. 

A dentist who attended a business men's 
class in a gymnasium for several years, in a 
Young Men's Christian Association where I 
was physical director, discontinued with the 
excuse that his patients were becoming so 
numerous that he must work evenings. He 
acknowledged that exercise was keeping him 
^^fit as a fiddle," but he must make money 
while he was strong and vigorous in order to 
provide for the proverbial rainy day. I ex- 
postulated with him on the ground that wealth 
without health was of little value; like a good 



6 Keeping Physically Fit 

blade in a broken knife handle. He laugh- 
ingly replied that I was paid for giving health 
advice and drumming up trade for the gym- 
nasium. I informed him such ethics would put 
him out of business, as his patients should 
refuse treatment simply because he was paid 
for his services. His business kept increasing, 
and five years later he had a serious nervous 
breakdown. 

The man who on account of time or location 
deems it inconvenient to train the body for 
health is like the workman who is too busy 
to sharpen dull tools. Why should you go 
through life with a dull appetite, a poor diges- 
tion, unsteady nerves, unrestful sleep, and a 
tired body, when these can be sharpened and 
invigorated with the whetstone of healthful 
exercise? He who is too busy to daily indulge 
in a few common-sense muscular movements 
will, in a few years, find that his resistance 
against the inroads of sickness and disease has 
greatly decreased and will have to take time 
to be sick. He will then be ordered to take 
a trip abroad, to a sanatorium, or to the shore 
or mountains, in order to regain lost health. 
The ^Hoo busy'' excuse is a flimsy one, be- 
cause no man is so busy that he cannot exer- 



Exercise for the Busy Man 7 

cise during the one hundred and eightieth part, 
of a day in order to build a bulwark of pro- 
tection against the insidious inroads of sickness 
and disease. 

'^I get all the exercise I need in my daily 
business/' says another busy man. This is a 
fallacy, because business of whatever form is 
work. Physical exercise, in order to be of the 
greatest benefit, requires absolute freedom of 
the mind from business cares and the use of 
the body in a manner entirely different from 
that demanded in daily work. 

A few years ago I had a physician friend 
who I observed was being sadly overworked 
and who needed some form of physical exer- 
cise. He first ridiculed the suggestion that he 
take to golf or some other mild form of exer- 
cise, saying that he got more than he needed 
in his profession by walking and making calls. 
He prided himself upon the sturdiness and en- 
durance of his ancestry and claimed that he 
possessed the same virile tenacity of resisting 
sickness and disease. 

I informed him that, notwithstanding my 
progenitors were of the same virile type, still 
I had to ease up during the spring after a 
strenuous season's work or suffer with a case 



8 Keeping Physically Fit 

of nerves. He contended that he did not 
know the meaning of the word ^'nerves''; that 
only introspective and trouble borrowing per- 
sons were afflicted with neurotic conditions and 
that he belonged in the ^' Steve Brodie^' class. 

Scarcely a year after this conversation he 
one day collapsed in the street and took an 
enforced rest for several months at the sea- 
shore. His proud boast afterward was that it 
required three physicians to accomplish the 
work he had been doing. 

Every mental or sedentary worker should 
have the steady influence of some harmless fad 
or sport dissociated from business or profes- 
sion, and I can suggest none better than some 
kind of pleasurable activity. This may take 
the form of walking, playing golf or tennis, 
gardening, raising chickens, or performing ex- 
ercises such as are described in this article. 
Whatever it is, seek it as a pleasant recreation; 
put your whole heart into it and make of it a 
hobby. 

A man who has passed middle age makes 
the objection, ^'I do not like exercise, because I 
tire more easily than I used to. If I go upstairs 
very fast, I become breathless and my pulse 
throbs in my temples painfully. What would 




A B 

Fig. 3. — ^The Rolling Exekcise 
Sit on the floor as in A. Keep knees stiff. Reach forward 
and touch feet, then roll backward as in B. From position B, 
lower legs to floor, then raise body to position A. 



10 Keeping Physically Fit 

be the use in my exercising, as I am too old and 
heavy to come back ? " It is the lack of exercise 
and wrong habits of hving that have brought 
about these conditions. In early life an excess 
of nutrition is well borne on account of much 
muscular activity. As a man becomes less ac- 
tive, the need for food should diminish, but the 
habit of eating heartily continues, and often 
grows apace. 

The result is a steady departure from the 
proper balance of waste and repair. Depending 
on the amount of exercise taken, the food supply 
should be cut down after forty years of age, and 
the proportion of meat in the dietary greatly re- 
duced. Meat is seldom required more than once 
a day, and intoxicating liquors never. The 
drinking of alcohol is no more necessary to hu- 
man well-being and contentment than the drink- 
ing of chloroform, ether, or gasoline. One is 
never too old to exercise; because, if he is not 
too old to eat, then he is not too old to exercise 
in order to help digest and assimilate the food 
eaten. 

Another objection to exercise is that some 
big-muscled men are unhealthy, which in some 
cases is only too true. Lifting heavy weights 
and performing exercises which occasion strain 



12 Keeping Physically Fit 

will give big muscles; but these are not always 
conducive to health. Health is a vital quality; 
large muscles are not. The predominant aim 
of all body-building should be for health, ed- 
ucation, and recreation; and any other method 
is contrary to nature, inteUigence, and experi- 
ence. If the average busy man thinks he should 
exercise and refuses to attend a gymnasium be- 
cause it requires an hour's exercise two or three 
times a week, at least as much more time in get- 
ting to and from the place, undressing, dressing, 
then undressing, and finally dressing again, then 
I shall agree with him that it means a great draft 
upon his time. The reason I am writing this 
article and suggesting a better way is because 
just such an objection is raised. Do not think 
for an instant that I am ^'knocking" the gym- 
nasium. It is a grand institution, and has come 
to stay, at least until we ^^make good" the slo- 
gan '^back to the farm." I claim that it is bet- 
ter for one to perform eleven exercises, such as 
suggested in this article, limiting each move- 
ment to one minute and making it a regime 
during life, than visiting a gymnasium, however 
good, two or three times a week for six months 
or a year, and then stopping exercise altogether. 
The gymnasium is my second home; I have 



14 Keeping Physically Fit 

spent sixteen years teaching within its walls, 
and I know it has its limitations. It is purely 
artificial, brought about by our artificial mode 
of hving. One hundred years ago two per cent 
of the population of the United States lived in 
the city, while to day about forty per cent only 
is left in the country. This congestion means 
keen competition in order to gain a livelihood; 
it means a varied assortment of mental pursuits, 
and hence the counterbalancing influence of 
the gjonnasium and common-sense exercise, 
eating, and sleeping. 

Before telling you about this better way — 
one that covers all requirements — let me tell 
you what common-sense exercise should be, 
what it has done for others, and what it should 
do for you. 

Its Value 

Rational exercise should produce, first of all, 
a foundation for an enlarged, expanded, and 
uplifted body. The masters of men in all times, 
men at the top in every line of human effort, 
were not alone those whose bodies were large and 
strong, but those in whom physical exercise of 
some sort was an almost ceaseless characteristic. 
In the Bible we find that those whom God chose 



16 Keeping Physically Fit 

as leaders were of strong physique. Moses was 
a strong man, else the march over desert, sea, 
and mountain would have exhausted him, the 
anxiety of the exodus would have crushed him. 
He came through all this in splendid condition, 
for Holy Writ informs us that ^^ Moses was an 
hundred and twenty years old when he died; his 
eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. '' 

Socrates, the heathen philosopher of Athens, 
was of strong physique; in Harrison's ''Story of 
Greece'' we are told that he surpassed all men 
in physical endurance. Cicero, Rome's great 
orator, had stated hours for exercise. Caesar 
was an extremely skillful swordsman and horse- 
man and a good swimmer. Hannibal and Alex- 
ander were great generals whose bodies were 
strong, who could endure fatigue and the ex- 
tremes of heat and cold. Lycurgus and Corio- 
lanus were devotees of manly sports. Alcibiades 
became master of the Athenians by reason of 
eloquence, grace of person, and strength of body. 
Sertorius in full armor swam the Rhone. Marius, 
Pelopides, Marcellus, and Cato delighted in ex- 
ercise and strength of body. In short, ancient 
and mediaeval history shows that brain and 
brawn were two characteristics of men whom 
the world recognized as leaders. 



Exercise for the Busy Man 17 

Modern history reveals the fact that our great 
men indulged much in physical training and ex- 
celled in physical prowess. Washington weighed 
over two hundred pounds and was over six feet 
in height. In his day he was king at wrestling 
and jumping. Tradition says that Nathan Hale 
jumped twenty feet, but Washington, beating 
him, did twenty-three. Our first President's 
chest girth directly under the arms was 44.5 
inches, being two inches greater than John L. 
Sullivan's in his palmiest days. Washington 
was a man of massive frame and far-seeing in- 
tellect, and will always remain in the heart of 
every true American ^' first in war, first in peace, 
and first in the hearts of his countrymen." 
Lincoln, Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Jackson, 
and Webster were men of strength and endur- 
ance. Gladstone, Bismarck, Luther, Napoleon, 
and Beecher won the admiration of the world 
by the physical bodies and master minds which 
they possessed. Are not the leaders of thought 
to-day strong, large men? Some are tall, like 
Washington, others short, like Napoleon; but 
almost all have bodies large in comparison with 
their height. For this reason the trunk is well 
named. It is a hollow box which contains the 
heart, lungs, stomach, intestines, liver, and other 



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A B 

Fig. 7. — Shadow Boxing 
From position A, strike at an imaginary opponent, then 
dodge as in B. Strike and dodge in every conceivable posi- 
tion.^ Move quickly and put plenty of action in the work. 
Get in a lot of foot movements. 



Exercise for the Busy Man 19 

vital organs. When the trunk is expanded and 
uphfted, the organs are upheld by their normal 
support, each in its proper place, and each or- 
gan has space in which to do its work. The 
heart and lungs need plenty of room in which 
to perform their important physiologic duty, 
and such space is only provided in a fully 
expanded trunk. The first thing, then, in a 
common-sense system of exercise is to create 
an enlarged, uplifted, and roomy body. 

Again, rational exercise should stimulate the 
operation of every vital organ, invigorating 
every function. It should produce a feeling 
of fatigue, but not of exhaustion. It should 
induce perspiration. It should produce sleep, 
not wakefulness, and should gradually produce 
a normal appetite. 

It should also develop the muscles — not a 
certain group, but every muscle of the body 
evenly and synunetrically. Muscles are de- 
veloped not in proportion to the amount of work 
they are called upon to perform, but in propor- 
tion to the quantity of nutrient blood they re- 
ceive. Natural exercise, then, will increase the 
size and power of all the muscles equally, because 
it increases the general circulation of the blood, 
not alone to the muscles, but to all parts of the 




Fig. 8. — ^A Stretching Exercise 
Raise the arms overhead and the right leg backward as 
far as possible. Hold and stretch a few moments. Re- 
peat, using the left leg. The exercise may be made more 
difficult by raising the heel of the standing foot. 



Exercise for the Busy Man 21 

* 
body. Exercise is valuable because it reduces 

the weight of the excessively fat man and in- 
creases the weight of the thin man. The heavy 
man's system is overcharged with fat, and vig- 
orous exercise eliminates or bums it up. In the 
lean man's system there is an urgent need of 
a stimulus capable of arousing the digestion 
and assimilation to increased activity, and this 
agency is found in exercise. When more food is 
assimilated, it naturally follows that the weight 
of the body will increase. 

Health, like money, can be accumulated, in- 
vested, and thus doubled and redoubled. If 
one must live a sedentary hf e, he should conserve 
and reinforce his physical '^bank account" or 
capital with a large surplus of stored-up energy. 
If he uses the mind to excess and fails to bank 
energy by common-sense exercise and living, he 
will eventually force himself to the wall, with 
the inevitable resulting physical bankruptcy. 
Every reasonable man recognizes that hfe in- 
surance is a good thing; but does he realize that 
health insurance is better? One enables him to 
die contented; the other, to hve happily. His 
family would rather have him than his insur- 
ance money. An endowment life-insurance 
poHcy is the best for the holder, as he receives 




Fig. 9. — Bending Forward and Backward 
Take a wide grasp on the wand or broomstick. Bend 
forward as in A, then backward as in B. 



Exercise for the Busy Man 23 

the money invested in a given number of years. 
With a health-insurance pohcy, where the pre- 
mium is paid in the form of eight minutes' daily 
indulgence in physical exercise, instead of the 
holder waiting ten, fifteen, or twenty years, he 
begins to receive dividends immediately. A 
health policy not only adds years to his life 
but life to his years. 

I have been writing this article for over eight- 
een years, because it has taken me that time to 
gain the information contained herein together 
with personal experience and the observation 
of others, which I now pass on to you. I know 
these exercises will do what I claim for them, 
because they are bringing results to over two 
thousand college students who meet in class 
work twice a week under my instruction. I hear 
some one say, '^Are these movements original 
— some mysterious system just discovered?" 
No, I did not invent these exercises, and it is no 
special system. It is, however, more natural than 
most of the man-made systems. It is taught 
in nature's college and practiced by animals 
and healthy children. They, unlike us adults, 
awake slowly, stretch, yawn, shake themselves, 
dance, roll on the ground, jump, dodge, leap, 
and run. Have you ever noticed the cat getting 



24 Keeping Physically Fit 

awake? It opens its eyes slowly, stretches and 
yawns till fully awake. Many of us, on the 
contrary, awake at the ringing of an alarm clock, 
jump out of bed as if thrown from a catapult, 
hurriedly dress and eat, then run to catch a train 
about to move. At noon a quick lunch is the 
almost daily programme. Dinner is hurried at 
night, in order to attend the theater or some 
other place of amusement. After this, on ac- 
count of the lateness of the hour, the alarm clock 
must be again set in order to repeat the awaken- 
ing process. Is it any wonder that the wrinkles 
of hurry, worry, and nervousness are becoming 
stamped upon the American face? 

Awake slowly, imitating the cat and the 
healthy child by yawning and stretching. A 
good stretch and a yawn is a gymnasium in 
itself — the gymnasium of nature. Stretch in 
every conceivable way, as it uplifts and expands 
the chest and wakens the internal organs to 
new life. Get out of bed and walk on hands and 
feet, as in Figure 1, to the bath-room. Walk 
with bent knees, as in position A, for two or three 
weeks, then try walking as in B, without bend- 
ing the knees. In public this mode of walking 
would not be considered graceful or conven- 
tional, but as an exercise it brings results. 




Fig. 10. — ^The Bending Twist 
Feet apart about thirty inches, wand or broomstick on 
shoulders. Twist trunk to the right, then bend forward as 
in position A. Return to starting position, twist trunk to 
the left as in B, then bend left (opposite of A). - Keep 
knees stiff and do not turn hips while twisting. Do not raise 
heels from floor. 



26 Keeping Physically Fit 

Figure 2 is an abdominal exercise and should 
be performed in 4 counts. Lie supine upon the 
floor. On count 1 raise legs; on count 2 bring 
knees in to chest ; on coimt 3 straighten the legs 
and on count 4 lower the legs to the floor. 

Figure 3 is a rolling exercise. Sit on the floor, 
as in A, and roll backward, bringing back the 
feet (if possible) till the floor is reached, as in 
B; then roll to sitting or starting position. To 
make this movement more difficult, start from 
A and lie on the back; roll back, as in B; lower 
legs to floor, and raise body to sitting posi- 
tion. These rolling exercises not only give ex- 
ercise to the entire body, but the pressure of the 
floor on the body gives a splendid massage. 

Figure 4 is a good exercise to make the muscles 
elastic, strengthening the muscles of the arms 
and abdomen. Try and keep the heels, hips 
and head in a straight line while in the B posi- 
tion. 

Figiu-e 5 is a chest and arm developer. It is 
difficult to push the body from B to A if the 
individual is very fleshy. Push up once or 
twice the first time and increase one push up 
daily till 15 or 20 push ups are accomplished. 

Figure 6 is a stretching exercise. Raise head, 
arms and legs as high as possible, hold and 



Exercise for the Busy Man 27 

stretch for a few seconds. This is a good ex- 
ercise for the back. 

Figure 7 is a dodging movement. Strike at 
an imaginary foe, as in position A; then dodge, 
as in B. Put plenty of action in it. This is 
called shadow boxing, and some pugilists prac- 
tice it to become more proficient at the game. 
Figure 8 is a stretching exercise, which expands 
and uplifts the chest, and tends to make one 
more erect. In this and the two following ex- 
ercises a broomstick is used because it serves as 
an incentive for one to do more strenuous work. 
It is not, however, necessary to use any appli- 
ance in the performance of these exercises, al- 
though I find that the untutored will get a better 
bend and rotation with the assistance of the 
stick. 

Figure 9 is a bending exercise, and will give 
elasticity to the back. Bend forward, as in 
position A, then backward, as in B. Figure 10 
is a combination of bending and twisting. With 
feet apart about thirty inches, bend forward 
and twist, as in A, toward the right leg, twist 
body to the left, as in B, then right and left 
alternately. Bending from side to side as far as 
possible is an excellent exercise to stir up a lazy 
liver. Keep the stick on the shoulder during 




Fig. 11. — Stationary Running 
Run without gaining ground, bringing the 
knees well up to the chest. Step lively, taking 
forty to fifty steps to the half minute. 



Exercise for the Busy Man 29 

the side bending. Figure 11 is a running ex- 
ercise. It is very difficult to run in the congested 
city street, so one must perform his running 
without gaining ground. Run stationary, as in 
the figure, bringing the knees up one after the 
other as near the chest as possible from fifty to 
one hundred times to the minute. Figure 12 
is a deep-breathing exercise. Raise the arms 
forward above the head, inhaling deeply; hold 
breath and bend forward, as in A; up on toes 
and stretch, as in B; lower arms to side, exhal- 
ing. Finish the exercise with a deep-breathing 
movement such as No. 12 or any movement 
illustrated in chapter on deep breathing. 

It is better to perform these exercises in paja- 
mas in the morning, as one's vitality is stronger 
then than later in the day, and much clothing 
restricts freedom of motion. Every one must 
judge for himself how much exercise to take 
at a dose, as the amount beneficial to one might 
prove injurious to another. These exercises of 
stretching, walking on hands and feet, bending, 
twisting, dodging, and running are basic in 
character. Every limb does work in propor- 
tion to the strength of its muscles without strain, 
as it moves only its own weight. 

It is no credit to a man to make a success of 



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Fig. 12. — ^Dbep Breathing 
Raise arais forward overhead, inhaling deeply. 
Hold breath. Bend forward as in A. From posi- 
tion A, raise arms forward overhead, stretch as in 
position B. Lower arms sideward, exhaUng. In ad- 
dition, use two or three exercises in chapter on deep 
breathing. 



Exercise for the Busy Man 31 

life up to thirty-five, then be ready for the junk- 
pile at forty. But to live well on toward one's 
second century takes a man big enough to Uve 
naturally and unselfish enough to spend at least 
eight minutes daily in common-sense exercise 
for his health's sake. 



CHAPTER II 

EXERCISE FOR THE NERVOUS WOMAN 

I AM firmly convinced that the average Amer- 
ican woman is more nervous than the average 
American man. She will probably challenge 
this assertion; but her daily speech and actions 
proclaim it to be true. 

Why is this so? It is, in the first place, 
due to lack of sufficient common-sense phys- 
ical training. Again, it is caused by eating too 
fast, too much, and of improperly prepared 
foods. An excess of sweet and starchy or 
nitrogenous (meats) articles of diet piles up 
poisons in the system which lead to disease. 
Add to this the lack of fresh air, uncleanliness 
of body, and improper clothing, rest, and sleep, 
and the total sum spells nervousness. 

Beauty 

Every vegetable and every animal is beautiful 
according to its own type of beauty when it is 
most perfectly developed. In man or woman 

32 




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34 Keeping Physically Fit 

the exact development of every part and that 
which enables it to best perform its function is 
the highest possible beauty. A healthy woman 
is the perfection of bodily organization, in- 
tellectual energy, social activity, and moral 
power. She is entirely free from pain and dis- 
cordance of mind. The first and greatest sign 
of health in woman is beauty. 

Next to character, beauty of form and fea- 
ture is a woman's greatest asset. Ideal beauty 
must have symmetry, proportion, curvature, 
color, and expression. Especially in woman 
does one look for these elements. She is the 
highest type of beauty on earth. No animal on 
earth has a better proportioned body, features 
and curves more synmietrical, color more exqui- 
site, expression more defined, movement more 
graceful, finish more complete, than woman. 
A youthful woman is earth's queen of beauty. 
The ancients regarded beauty as a mark of 
divine favor. Socrates called it a short-lived 
tyranny, Plato a privilege of nature, another 
writer a solitary kingdom, Theocritus a de- 
lightful prejudice, while Aristotle claimed that 
it was better than all the letters of rec- 
ommendation in the world. Ovid said that 
beauty was a gift of the gods, and another writer 



36 Keeping Physically Fit 

represented it as "a queen without soldiers/' 
Diogenes called beauty woman's most forcible 
letter of recommendation. While many of the 
old philosophers denounced beauty as worthless 
and mischievous, still they were none the less 
its slaves. As long as a woman has superb 
health she will have beauty, and by hygienic 
living may retain it all her life. An occasional 
elderly woman can be found who has great 
beauty. Another retains it till forty or fifty 
years of age, and another, more's the pity! only 
till twenty or thirty. The saying that a woman 
is as old as she looks has truth in it, as usually 
one feels as old as she looks. One woman is 
indeed old at thirty, while another is young at 
sixty. Cleopatra, the charming Egyptian, was 
over thirty years old when she fascinated Mark 
Antony. Helen of Troy, whose beauty caused 
such a long and bloody war, had passed her 
fortieth year when Paris fell in love with her 
and carried her from her native home. At forty 
Madame Recamier was regarded as the most 
beautiful woman in Europe. 

After all these nice things I have said about 
you, Mrs. Nervous Woman, will you allow that 
beauty of feature and form to become marred 
by injudicious eating and insufficient bodily 



38 Keeping Physically Fit 

exercise? Will you allow fat to accumulate 
upon the neck, abdomen, and hips, and thus 
destroy the symmetrical contour of these parts? 
If you have an excessive amount of fat in these 
regions, will you not give the exercises described 
in this article a trial for a few months and ob- 
serve the hints on proper hving? If you are 
thin, with a poorly developed chest and bust, I 
know the exercises will help you and bring 
about the desired result. 

Among the many letters received from women 
regarding the Towel Exercises was one from 
a lady in New England. 

She claimed that in a short time she observed 
a decided reduction in the girth of waist and 
hips and an increase in bust and chest. Another 
woman from the West wrote and said that she, 
her husband, and four children, were taking the 
exercises and claimed that all were benefited 
and had a good time generally as they worked 
in unison. This family was so interested that 
the head of the household had special towels 
made and labelled in order to suit each member's 
length of reach. 

Other commendatory letters revealed the 
fact that some gained weight and others lost it 
through the faithful performance of these gym- 




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40 Keeping Physically Fit 

nastic movements. Rational exercise is like 
a two-edged sword, in that it works both ways, 
burning up excessive fat, thereby causing a re- 
duction in weight, and again, adding to the 
weight in the anaemic and poorly nourished by 
stimulating the digestion and assimilation. 

I am for the moment taking the liberty of 
considering the flat-chested woman and the 
woman whose body is out of proportion on ac- 
count of adipose tissue, and while in this posi- 
tion I shall try to tell each of them how to bring 
her body to a normal, healthy condition. 

Activity 

What would you think of a starving woman 
refusing to eat substantial food that has been 
placed before her? If after reading this article 
you refuse to observe the hints and fail to give 
the exercises an adequate trial because it means 
hard work and sacrifice, then you place yourself 
in exactly the same position as the starving 
person who refused to eat. There is absolutely 
no reason why a woman should go through life 
with a half-starved, undeveloped muscular or- 
ganism when through eight minutes spent daily 
in exercise she may be pulsating in vigorous 
health. Nor should another be constantly 



42 Keeping Physically Fit 

carrying from fifty pounds up of excessive fat 
when by rational eating and exercising she can 
reduce it to normal. For a woman to know her 
duty regarding her physical welfare and to 
neglect its performance is criminal negligence, 
not alone to herself, but to her descendants. 
Certainly it means hard work to get health, and 
just as hard to keep it. Nothing in the world 
that possesses any value can be had free. Air 
is free, but even it must be breathed, and the 
deeper and more vigorously it is breathed the 
more good it does one. '^Nature knows no 
pause," said Goethe, ^^and attaches a curse 
upon all inaction." Still water becomes stag- 
nant, while running water purifies itself. Sloth, 
like rust, consumes faster than labor wears. 
The bicycle falls the moment it stops, and phys- 
ical exercise and mental activity keep many a 
life from falling. The ship at the wharf rots 
faster than one at sea. Frogs do not croak in 
running water, but in the stagnant pool. 

It is the indolent person in whom are found 
discontent and pessimism. The great law of 
activity excuses no one, weak or strong, poor 
or rich. The poor must work to get money 
with which to secure food and thus satisfy the 
cravings of the appetite, while the rich must 




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44 Keeping Physically Fit 

work in order to create an appetite. When the 
pores of the body are kept open by regular, 
common-sense exercise, the pores of the imagina- 
tion are apt to be closed against tainted subjects. 

Common-sense Exercise 

Any kind of physical training which brings 
the desired results may be termed common- 
sense exercise. All out-of-door sports are ex- 
cellent because one gains from the highly oxy- 
genated air. Walking is second to none as an 
exercise, because it is natural, beneficial, pleas- 
ing, and safe. Nervousness, sleeplessness, and 
indigestion are poor pedestrians and will never 
overtake one who walks much under the open 
sky. Horace Greeley said that walking two or 
three hundred miles in a clear, calm October 
was one of the cheap, wholesome luxuries of life, 
as free to the poor as to the rich. I would not, 
however, limit it to one month, but make it 
good for all twelve. 

Walking is one of the best exercises for chil- 
dren. In fact, a noted authority claims that a 
normal human being walks more at the age of 
six than at any other period of life. A walk of 
a few city blocks may be a simple exercise, but 
thirty or forty miles becomes very difficult and 



46 Keeping Physically Fit 

quite complex. By^ walking one can in a day 
reach the greatest maximum of labor of which 
the human body is capable, and this without 
strain. It is, then, an excellent form of exercise 
for the athletically inclined young man or 
woman. For those in middle Hfe and the aged 
it is one of the best exercises, because it pro- 
duces the maximum of good results with the least 
amount of effort. Even among invalids, or 
during convalescence when exercise can be in- 
dulged in at all, walking is the best, as it can be 
done without strain. The reason that strain is 
largely eliminated is due to the even distribu- 
tion of the effect of its practice over the entire 
system of muscles, many of which are the strong- 
est in the body. None of these muscles needs to 
be taxed to its full capacity, but may be used in 
a slight or moderate way. The addition of these 
shght efforts in a five or six mile walk daily will 
total a summary that becomes a potent force in 
acquiring and keeping health. Begin with a 
mile walk each day the first week, two miles 
each day the second week, and increase one 
mile each week till you are walking four miles 
daily. You will find that walking is a lubricant 
that prevents one's joints from becoming stiff, 
creaky, and rheumatic. 




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48 Keeping Physically Fit 

Swimming is one of the finest of exercises. 
It develops the body symmetrically and thor- 
oughly ; it is hygienic ; it is a health-giving agency ; 
it is a pleasant form of recreation; it is often the 
means of protection or safety in case of danger 
to hfe. It is doubtful if one in fifty women can 
swim. Still, it is easier for women to swim than 
for men on account of the bony structure being 
lighter and the body more buoyant. Again, 
women can withstand cold water better than 
men, and would learn to swim very readily if it 
were not for fear of the water. It is almost 
criminal negligence for those to be unable to 
swim who in many of our large cities must be 
daily upon the water. 

Mr. Taft, while President, upon accepting 
a gold-mounted golf stick from some of his 
California admirers, almost raised the game of 
golf to the plane of. an official subject. He 
commended this game in particular as a whole- 
some diversion for the middle-aged and persons 
approaching the evening of life. He sounded a 
timely note when he said that it is not games 
and exercise for the young and active that are 
needed in this country, since they are well pro- 
vided for with baseball, football, basket-ball, 
and tennis. The ex-President thinks that what 



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50 ' Keeping Physically Fit 

is wanted are games for those past the flush and 
strength of youth, and consequently recom- 
mends his favorite pastime of golf. 

Such games and diversions as bowling, cricket, 
golf, horseback-riding, swimming, walking, and" 
the exercises illustrated in this article can be in- 
dulged in freely between the ages of twelve and 
sixty with safety and beneficial results. 

When you awake in the morning, yawn a few 
times and indulge in a thorough stretching and 
twisting of the body, arms, and legs. Remove 
the pillow and raise the head till the chin touches 
the chest fifteen to twenty-five times. If while 
doing this you place the hands on the sides of 
the neck, you will observe a tightening of the 
muscles. This exercise, if persisted in for some 
time, will tend to remove a double chin. A 
daily massage of the front of the neck with the 
fingers will assist in bringing the neck to a nor- 
mal condition. 

It is impossible to recommend the number of 
times which each exercise should be performed, 
as no two persons are alike in their physical 
condition. If you are not accustomed to ex- 
ercising, commence by doing each exercise once 
the first day, twice the second day, and increas- 
ing accordingly each succeeding day imtil you are 



52 Keeping Physically Fit 

doing each exercise from twenty to thirty times 
a day. Morning is the best time to do the ex- 
ercises, but any time is better than none at all. 

Hygienic Hints 

One^s eating and drinking play an important 
part in health. Do not eat too much, as the 
body in this condition is the same as a stove or 
furnace which is overcrowded with fuel. The 
combustion being incomplete, volumes of smoke 
and gas are produced which choke the fire and 
poison the various organs. Avoid foods that 
do not agree with you. If you have a tendency 
towards rheumatism, diminish the amount of 
foods containing acid, such as strawberries, to- 
matoes, rhubarb; eat sparingly of meats, avoid 
liquors, tea, coffee, and spices, and drink plenty of 
water between meals. If you are troubled with 
constipation, partake of foods that are laxative 
and contain bulk. Foods that are laxative and 
easy to digest are baked apples, mutton, pears, 
tomatoes, and buttermilk. Foods laxative and 
moderately digestible are apples, bacon, barley, 
cherries, grapes, prunes, peaches, raspberries, 
strawberries, and veal. Foods laxative but 
hard to digest are currants, green corn, dates, 
figs, oatmeal, plums, pineapple, and rhubarb. 



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54 Keeping Physically Fit 

Foods which contain bulk and relieve constipa- 
tion are lettuce, carrots, turnips, cauliflower, 
cabbage, and sterilized bran. Foods that are 
both bulky and laxative are wholewheat bread, 
spinach, and dandelion. 

Chew the food thoroughly, for the stomach 
has no teeth. The hen swallows her food with- 
out chewing, but she also swallows ^^ grinders." 
Sleep is nature's great restorer, as it in a myste- 
rious way overhauls and repairs in secret our 
wonderful mechanism. We return to sleep each 
night tired and wasted from the day's work, 
scarred, broken, and injured in the great struggle 
called life, yet sound sleep refreshes each tiny 
brain cell, washes the ashes into the blood stream 
and pumps them into the lungs, where they are 
thrown out in every breath. While asleep the 
heart beats ten strokes less to the minute in 
order to give it the needed rest, and in the morn- 
ing the body is as fresh and as good as new. 
How necessary, then, that one secures the req- 
uisite amount of sleep and that the sleeping- 
room is well supplied with fresh air. Robbing 
one's self of sleep is putting a mortgage on fu- 
ture health and strength. Nature will event- 
ually foreclose; she will, hke Shylock, demand 
the last ounce of flesh. 



56 Keeping Physically Fit 

Practice not alone self-control of appetite, 
but of the emotions. The poisons of fatigue 
have been demonstrated, but the poisons of 
worry, grief, and discontent, though not yet de- 
termined, without a doubt exist. Explosions 
of anger, fires of hatred, brain-storms of lasting 
grief, contagious fear and panic over disease 
or misfortune, are injurious to the human sys- 
tem, and so should be controlled. Besides daily 
performing the exercises described in this article, 
choose one of the outdoor sports or make some 
sort of play part of your daily regimen. One 
should not only resist the temptation to watch 
others fight the world's battles, but should also 
overcome the tendency to sit in the grandstand 
and cheer those who play the game. With the 
petty round of irritating concerns during the 
daily duties, happy is she who can play the 
woman, helping others with her kind, laughing 
face, and who combines cheerfulness with indus- 
try and hygienic living. She not only helps those 
with whom she comes in daily contact, but she 
goes to her bed content, weary, and undis- 
honored, and rightfully earns that great gift of 
the gods, restful sleep. 

In closing, Mrs. Nervous Woman, let me say 
that because you live the strenuous life is no 



58 Keeping Physically Fit 

reason why you should be nervous. You can 
put on the high-speed gear and hve as easily 
and economically as on the low if you use the 
proper grade of gasohne. This gasohne is a 
combination of common-sense exercise, diet, 
and sleep, pure air, recreation, and the ''glad 
hand" for whatever life brings you. 



CHAPTER III 

EXERCISE FOR THE GROWING CHILD 

In dealing with the subject ^^ Exercise for the 
Growing Child" I shall also speak of the child's 
early training in the mental, social, and moral 
aspects, as these and the physical cannot be 
dissociated. During the first few years of life 
all of these natures of the child can best be de- 
veloped through the agency of play. 

Play Life 

Before taking up the play life of the child, let 
us see if we can determine what play is. There 
are four view-points in the theory of play, all of 
which should be considered. The '' feeling fit,'' 
or overflowing with surplus energy, is advanced 
by H. Schiller and Herbert Spencer, while 
directly opposed to this is the idea that play is 
an opportunity (Lazarus's theory) afforded for 
the relaxation of exhausted powers. Professor 
Karl Groos claims that play is important in the 
development of the individual, while, opposing 
this. Professor G. Stanley Hall explains play 

59 




Fig. 26. — Flaying boLDiERS 
The Correct Standing Position 
In order to note whether the posture is correct or not, 
stand against a wall with head, shoulders, hips, and heels 
touching it. 



Exercise for the Growing Child 61 

as a rehearsing of ancestral activities. Herbert 
Spencer, in his ^^ Principles of Psychology/' in 
upholding the first of these four views, claims 
that ^^play is characteristic of nerve processes 
— that the superfluous integration of ganglion 
cells should be accompanied by an inherited 
readiness to discharge.'' This sounds quite 
technical; it means that on account of the ad- 
vanced development of man he has more force 
than is needed in order to digest, breathe, keep 
the organic processes going, and is able to allow 
some of his processes longer periods of rest 
while others are being exercised. 

Imitation seems to be quite general in the 
play of the child, who dramatizes the acts of 
adults in the dressing of dolls and the building 
of toy houses; still, imitation cannot be called 
the universal standard of play. Not imitation 
or superfluous energy, but the life of impulse 
and instinct alone can make special forms of 
play comprehensible to us. All that is needed 
to set the claws of a kitten in motion is to roll 
a ball of cord toward it, while the full-grown 
cat starts up at the sight of a mouse. If a father 
gets upon his hands and knees in the nursery, 
the child instinctively is ready for a romp. The 
feeling-fit theory is all right as far as it goes, 



62 Keeping Physically Fit 

but it does not go far enough. Recreation or 
play appeals to one when one is tired or ex- 
hausted and still does not wish to rest or sleep. 
Play is the diversion of thought from the weight- 
ier conflicts of life to the seemingly lighter diver- 
sions of the hour. As the hair of a violin bow 
should not always be taut if the instrument is 
to retain its usefulness, so does man need the 
relaxation of play. When a student plays a 
game of baseball or tennis, he tones up his re- 
laxed mental powers at the same time that he 
finds a means of relieving his accumulated motor 
impulses, repressed during his work in the clinic, 
laboratory, or at the drawing-board. Play 
which disposes of his surplus energy, and, again, 
which restores his lost powers, is a valuable 
supplement to the Schiller-Spencer idea, but 
still does not solve the theory of play. New 
recreative activity is often closely related to 
the work of which one is weary, as the changing 
from one scientific book to another. When 
almost exhausted from long, continuous walk- 
ing on the level, I have found diversion and be- 
come rested by up-and-down-hill walking, and 
vice versa. This is due to the fact that different 
sets of muscles are employed. The swimmer 
becomes rested by turning over on his back. 



Exercise for the Growing Child 63 

While the theory of surplus energy accounts 
for play in the case of many children when there 
is no need for recreation, this need may produce 
play, as illustrated by adults with whom there 
is no surplus energy. While play may be started 
in the absence of superabundant energy, it may 
then be carried to the utmost limit of exhaus- 
tion. Baldwin explains the almost irresistible 
tendency to repeat by calling it ^^ circular re- 
action." A child never tires of hearing the same 
story over and over; roosters fight till they fall 
exhausted, and, when rested, renew the fighting. 
A phrase or advertising sign will often stay with 
with one for days, being constantly repeated or 
reviewed in the mind's eye. This impulse to- 
ward repetition is the reason for carrying on 
play to the utmost limit of strength. Some 
parents imagine their children evilly inchned 
because, while leaping and running, they some- 
times are seized with a wild impulse for destroy- 
ing things or for inflicting pain upon animals. 
Children should not be punished for this, because 
they are following the mysterious law of ^'circu- 
lar reaction," or the frenzy of play. While the 
play life of the child should be encouraged, still 
it should be carefully supervised by the parent 
and teacher, and the child should not be allowed 



64 Keeping Physically Fit 

to play too much. A child has not the self- 
control of the adult, and so gives way to the im- 
pulse of repetition. I have seen both a boy and 
a girl faint from the effects of over-indulgence 
in play, the boy during Marathon running, and 
the girl in rope-jumping. During the unre- 
strained impulse of the adult, even, we can see 
evidences of the tendency to repeat. The dancer 
whose movements are adjusted in harmony 
with the rhythmic repetition of pleasant sounds 
is possessed by a kind of temporary madness 
which makes him exert his powers to the utmost. 
Some religious sects do unseemly things while 
laboring under the fervor of religious ecstasy. 
The frenzy of play is well exemplified in the 
ghost dance of the American Indians and among 
savage tribes in other parts of the world which 
inflict atrocious self-torture and dance till ex- 
hausted. Parents should not, then, repress the 
shouting, singing, and playing of the child when 
they themselves can hardly at times restrain the 
same impulse. Professor Karl Groos, in his 
''Play of Man," says that play is of great im- 
portance in the physical and mental develop- 
ment of the individual; that it is, in short, pre- 
paratory to the tasks of life. He claims that, 
before the child's education begins, his whole 




Fig. 27. — Going-Down Exercise 
The child keeps the body rigid while being lowered to 
the floor, the parent or teacher steps to the side as in Fig. 28. 



66 Keeping Physically Fit 

existence, except the time devoted to sleeping 
and eating, is occupied with play. He says that 
this does not involve heredity impulses, but 
that its pecuhar and inherent nearness to the 
springs of life and life's realities demands a com- 
plete explanation grounded on a general prin- 
ciple which is apphcable at once to youth and to 
the play which lasts throughout life. 

The latest \dew of play is held by Professor G. 
Stanley Hall, who says that '^the first sponta- 
neous movements of infancy are keys to the 
past; that in play every mood and movement 
is instinct with heredity.'' The power to throw 
with accuracy and speed was in the long ago 
necessary for survival. Those who could throw 
unerringly overcame enemies, killed game, and 
sheltered the family, while those who could not 
were eliminated. Running and dodging with 
speed and endurance and hitting with a club 
were also basal to hunting and fighting. These 
exercises are still necessary for developing and 
perfecting the organism, and this is what makes 
the game of baseball so racially famihar and our 
National , sport. Does not the typical college 
game of football revive memories of the conflict 
and struggle of primitive ages? It does not take 
a Carlisle eleven to make a gridiron resemble a 




Fig. 28. — Pull-Up Exercise 
The child keeps the body rigid while it is being raised 
to the position of Fig. 27. 



68 Keeping Physically Fit 

battlefield of savages, illustrating, as it does, 
the joys of victory and the crushing sorrows of 
defeat. Why will twenty or thirty thousand 
persons sit for two hours cheering their favorites, 
oblivious of the cold, rain, and blinding snow, 
if not impelled by ancestral traits handed down 
by those football tactics of running, dodging, 
tackling, and throwing of the primitive man? 
Is it not a racial instinct that impels one to sit 
all day on the bank of a stream and fish? Some 
exercises and play are more interesting than 
others because they touch and revive the basic 
emotions of the race. " Play,'^ continues Pro- 
fessor Hall, ^'at best is only a school of ethics. 
It gives, not only strength, but courage and 
confidence, tends to simplify habits, gives en- 
ergy, diversion, and promptness to the will, 
brings consolation and peace of mind in evil 
days, is a resource in trouble, and brings out in- 
dividuality." The conclusion, then, I take it, 
is that all four ideas discussed must be included 
in order to give the best definition of play. Sur- 
plus energy and recreation for exhausted powers 
may operate simultaneously ; while in the free, un- 
trammeled use of one's powers individual quali- 
ties may be developed during the rehearsing of 
those ancestral activities as reproduced in play. 



Exercise for the Growing Child 69 

The Biologic Aspect of Play 

In the science of Hfe play may be considered 
from two standpoints: its genetic explanation 
and its biological value. It is as difficult to ex- 
plain its origin satisfactorily as it is to explain 
the origin of man. Darwin's theory of descent 
has constantly increasing opposition. Still, there 
is no better doctrine than that of evolution, 
and man's obscure origin may never be fully 
comprehended. Darwin's theory of descent, 
however, is symbohc of the biologic aspect of 
play, evolution by means of the inheritance of 
acquired characters, and, again, evolution by 
means of the survival of the fittest in the struggle 
for existence. Play is deep-seated in biology 
because it secures the maximum of joy in life 
with the minimum of expense. Especially is 
this true with games and movements of rhythm, 
such as college yells, cheers, walking, horseback- 
riding, dancing, and gymnastics with music. 
Students will exercise and dance with energy and 
spirit till almost exhausted when accompanied 
with popular music, while without it the same 
exercise loses its attraction and is then often 
performed as an irksome task. Students like to 
yell, sing, and whistle in connection with gymr 




Fig. 29. — Going-up Exercise 
Clasp the hands and grasp the child firmly under the neck. 
Do not let the hands slide or the hair will be pulled. The 
child holds the body rigid till the ordinary standing position 
is assimied. This exercise strengthens the neck and back. 



Exercise for the Growing Child 71 

nasties and play, and this should be encouraged. 
In a growing youth shouting, like the crying of 
infants, causes tension and flushing of various 
organs, enlarges the caliber of blood-vessels, 
forces the blood into newly growing fibers, cells, 
and organs, which atrophy if not thus fed. Play 
is a sign of youth, and the absence of it reveals 
the fact that one is getting old. 

The Psychologic Aspect 

From . the intellectual standpoint, play con- 
tains three essentials, viz., its pleasurable effect, 
the conscious or unconscious imitation of useful 
activities, and the reproduction of the original 
aim in a playful one. The psychology of play 
rests on the satisfaction of unborn impulses, 
such as fighting, sexual, imitation, and social 
instincts, and these, pressing for discharge, lead 
to pleasure when they find it in play. Some 
forms of play are not psychological, such as the 
play of young animals and infants, nor can this 
be said to be pleasurable. The child in his first 
grasp of an object clutches at it instinctively, 
and play then begins. From a biological point 
of view, this is practice of an instinct and may 
be termed a contact play. The child then de- 
velops the playful activity with the rest of the 



72 Keeping Physically Fit 

sensory apparatus by his sensations of tempera- 
ture, taste, smell, sound, and sight. These 
movements cannot be considered play from a 
psychologic standpoint until through repetition 
they acquire the character of conscious proc- 
esses accompanied by attention and pleasure. 
The pleasure in play and exercise may direct 
the attention and imagination of youth from 
questionable things to those that make for 
character. Properly directed games and play, 
by exalting one's spirit almost to the point of 
ecstasy by its intense physical pleasure, will 
diffuse, irradiate, and lessen the sexual stress 
just at the age when its premature localization 
is most dangerous. The proper amount of play 
or exercise at the proper time gives moral self- 
control and favors all higher human inspiration. 
The higher mental powers are employed and 
developed in play to a remarkable extent. The 
infant experiments during play with such feel- 
ings as physical pain; mental suffering, surprise, 
and fear. The illusion of the child is so strong 
that the little girl with her doll imagines she is 
its real mother, while the boy is just as really a 
soldier or robber. In games of tag the child 
runs with as much fear as if the bogie-man 
were real. Older persons also play with the 



Exercise for the Growing Child 73 

feeUngs, as a sensitive tooth is constantly 
touched by the tongue or a slight wound repeat- 
edly pressed or rubbed. The neurotic plays 
with his feelings and imagines he has all sorts 
of diseases. In the last case imagination tends to 
make one morbid and introspective, while illu- 
sion in play can result only in good. In short, 
play is just as real to the imaginative adult as 
her doll is to the little girl; and the play life of 
the older person helps and develops him just as 
much as the doll helps the girl for the duties, 
later, of a mother. 

The Sociologic View-Point 

As society is founded upon the desire for ag- 
gregation and communication, so play is neces- 
sary for bodily association or grouping together 
in order to bring out the best that is in man. 
Play is valuable in its cheering and humanizing 
effect both physically and mentally, especially in 
those games which tend to strengthen social 
ties. To do what the others do ; to thrill with the 
feeling that moves the masses; to get out of the 
narrow routine of one's own desires and efforts 
— these one experiences during play, and habits 
which extend beyond the sphere of play are 
thereby formed. When these two original so- 



74 Keeping Physically Fit 

cial impulses outgrow the hmits of the fam- 
ily, the child enters the first social group 
composed of playmates. Every ^^gang" must 
have a leader, and his command is absolute; 
under such command a timid child may steal 
and commit crimes that amaze and horrify his 
parents. Later the college youth, not while 
alone, but with the '^hail fellows well met," will 
drink liquors till intoxicated. At these periods 
of life play ought to be well directed. Achieve- 
ment in play games proclaims abihty to support 
and defend not only one's self, but others. Phys- 
ical force and skill, the victory and glory which 
proclaimed the ancient a hero and invested him 
with romantic glamour, are just as irresistible 
to-day. The applause of men is intoxicating; 
but that of the fair sex is ravishing. Woman 
selects one in whom are found such qualities as 
bravery and strength; in fact, evolutionists 
claim that woman has domesticated and ed- 
ucated savage man and taught him all his vir- 
tues by exercising her royal prerogative of se- 
lecting in her mate just those quahties that 
please her for transmission to future generations 
and eUminating others distasteful to her. Just 
as a young man in playful mood feels the joys 
of victory and the sorrows of defeat more keenly 




Fig. 30. — ^The Abdominal-Muscle Exercise 
Grasp the child under the arms and have it raise the legs 
as high as possible. 



76 Keeping Physically Fit 

in the presence of his sweetheart, so in after life 
will he try to please his wife in the development 
of those powers that elevate both themselves 
and society. In play, such as a game of foot- 
ball, the master spirit, who takes the lead by 
virtue of his courage, wisdom, or presence of 
mind, will enthuse those playing with him, and 
all will work together in order to win. Proving 
to one's associates and rivals in play what one 
is capable of gives one the right to be a leader. 
This desire to influence other wills and to direct 
and control public action, to become a social 
leader, finds full scope and development in play. 
The masterful spirit learns how to control; the 
milder one how to obey. Often (in hfe, as in 
play), for the welfare of society, when one feels 
like striking with all his might, he must make 
a sacrifice bunt in order that his team-mate 
may advance. 

Play benefits society, as can be seen by the 
great crowds that gather to witness contests 
and games, oblivious of the exacting cares and 
responsibihties of home and business, and re- 
veals the power of enthusiasm in congenial sur- 
roundings, while each one gains a stimulus from 
the vast crowd. 

Play is esprit de corps in that it is cementing 



Exercise for the Growing Child 77 

the ties of brotherly love between nations in 
those great international contests which had 
their origin in ancient Greece. These Olympic 
Games in the long ago were ever in preparation 
for war, while to-day they stand for develop- 
ment and kindly competition. Just as we re- 
hearse and give vent to the savage activities of 
our forebears in games, so can athletic contests 
between nations take the place of war, which is 
of savage origin and belongs to a dead past. 

The Pedagogic View-Point 

The educational value of play has been rec- 
ognized from the time of Plato to the present 
day. There are two ways of viewing the rela- 
tion of play to education. The instruction may 
take the form of playful activity, or it may be 
converted into systematic teaching. Instruction 
may take the form of play, as in the hobbies 
of adults aside from occupation, which are taken 
chiefly for the pleasure they afford. These may 
be instructive and have aims entirely outside 
of the sphere of play. The teaching of the young 
child, however, is different, as in the Froebel 
kindergarten system of instruction, because the 
occupation or study is playful practice in prep- 
aration for the serious work of the higher grades. 




Fig. 31. — The See-Saw Exercise 
Both parent and child assume the ordinary standing pos- 
ture, holding hands. The child then performs deep knee 
bending as in the illustration (Fig. 31). As the child returns 
to the starting position the parent lowers the body by bend- 
ing the knees. This exercise develops thighs and hips. 



Exercise for the Growing Child 79 

The reason I have dwelt at length on the sub- 
ject of play is because every parent and peda- 
gogue should understand the fundamental prin- 
ciples concerning play and exercise, as plays 
and games differ in individuals, seasons, sex, 
and age. Play will bring out individuality and 
develop the physical and moral nature in chil- 
dren as can be done in no other way. 

Individuality 

Each child has peculiarities of mind, tem- 
perament, disposition, and character which 
make it an individual problem for the parents 
to solve. A mother, in lamenting the failure of 
home discipUne in rearing children, may say, 
^'I cannot understand it, as I have treated them 
all exactly ahke." The secret of her failure lay 
in the fact that she tried to open distinctly differ- 
ent locks with the same key. There is a differ- 
ence between wax and clay, as the sun will melt 
one and harden the other. The parent should 
appeal to the child's strongest characteristic, 
as this is the keynote of its individuahty. This 
strength should be used as the lever to raise its 
weakness. 

Six romping, boisterous children in the nurs- 
ery who are unruly and resist all commands to 



80 Keeping Physically Fit 

be quiet may be stilled in a few moments by an 
appeal to their individuality through its dom- 
inating trait. The boy who is playing soldier 
by noisily beating a drum may be changed into 
a sentinel whose duty it is to enforce quiet in 
the camp. The little girl may be moved through 
love as in no other way, and the chord of affec- 
tion in her heart vibrates in instant harmony 
when she hears that the noise is making mother's 
head ache. Another child, unmoved by such 
an appeal, can be reached through his pride and 
self-respect by placing him at the head of the 
army. He can be depended upon to show his 
soldiers how to behave. The fourth, led into 
joining this playful riot through the hunger of 
an active mind craving something definite to do, 
may respond instantly if this be provided. The 
fifth, a little girl with the housewifely instinct 
for order, finds satisfaction in helping mother 
with household duties, while the sixth may 
respond to an innate sense of justice as to no 
other appeal. Often, ^vhen one child in a family 
gives away all its playthings, he is praised for 
his generous act, while another is censured on 
account of cornering the toy market. Both chil- 
dren are wrong, just a^ a watch ten minutes fast 
and another ten minutes slow are both equally 



Exercise for the Growing Child 81 

wrong. The watches must be regulated each 
differently — the speed must be retarded in one 
and accelerated in the other. So with the two 
children, the former must be made to respect his 
duty to himself, and the latter to recognize his 
duty to others. An object-lesson may be gained 
from a simple nursery game in which two or 
more children are playing. The game loses in- 
terest if a child gives away point after point 
without striving to win. On the other hand, the 
players become disgusted if one tries to win or 
^'corner" the game by cheating or lying. Chil- 
dren in early life do not deUberately do wrong. 
They are getting their moral bearings through 
play; they make slips and mistakes, follow the 
Une of least resistance, and consequently should 
be guided and helped to self-guidance. The 
punishment of the child, therefore, should have 
but one object, viz., its good. It should be the 
switching of a train of moral thought from the 
side-track back to the main hne, and the danger- 
signals should be explained. It is doubtful if 
slapping or flogging of children by parents while 
angry is ever productive of good. Nature has 
laws, and inflicts a penalty for their violation. 
A hot coal will bum, a live wire will shock, and 
a keen edge will cut. Nature does not excuse 




Fig. 32. — Leg-Lift Exercise 
The parent should hold the hand at a certain place and 
have the child endeavor to lift the legs till the hand is 
touched. Each day hold the hand further away till the 
child is turning over as in Fig. 33. 



Exercise for the Growing Child 83 

on account of ignorance, but demands that one 
be punished for breaking her laws. The punish- 
ment is ever in terms of the law, whether it is 
marked in plain figures or in a cipher code which 
requires a knowledge of the moral key to in- 
terpret it. The child should be taught to reahze 
this; he should know that punishment is just. 
If he has willfully cut or broken, he must restore 
in some way. The knife that carved initials on 
the parlor furniture must be taken away for a 
while; the child must be deprived of play while 
he tries to oil or polish the furniture in order to 
restore it in part to its original condition. This 
teaches a double lesson: he is deprived of the 
knife he values and he sacrifices pleasure from 
his play period. If he hurts, he must do his best 
to heal, and he must return the article that has 
been stolen. 

Playful Exercise 

The best kind of exercise for the child is that 
which is garbed in the form of play. This may 
take the form of companion exercise, in which 
either parent works in conjunction with the 
youngster, as illustrated in this chapter. 

The first exercise shows good posture, which 
is the chief essential in common-sense play or 



84 Keeping Physically Fit 

exercise. I find it an excellent incentive to have 
a girl dress up as a Girl Scout, a boy as a soldier 
or Boy Scout, and stand as in Figure 26. The 
back is against a straight wall, with head, shoul- 
ders, hips, and heels touching it. The pride of 
the youngster must be appealed to in gaining 
and maintaining an erect, graceful physique. 
When the body, either from neglect or fatigue, 
tends to droop forward, the child must con- 
stantly be reminded of the soldier or Scout 
till the correct posture becomes habitual. In 
Figure 27, the parent takes the hands of the 
child; the latter, keeping the body rigid, sinks 
backward slowly till the position of Figure 28 
is reached. The child should keep its feet 
against those of the parent in order not to slide 
while going backward. From the position of 
Figure 28 the child keeps the body stiff while 
the parent raises it to the position of Figure 27. 
Exercises 27, 28, 29, are designed for straighten- 
ing especially the muscles of the back, neck, and 
arms. Figure 29 is more difficult than the two 
preceding. The child must keep very rigid 
while it is being lifted to the standing position. 
Exercise 30 is also a very good method of 
strengthening the abdominal muscles. Lift the 
child, as in Figure 30, then have it raise the 



Exercise for the Growing Child 85 

legs and hold the position while five are counted. 
At first the child will not be able to lift the legs 
straight forward, but will with practice. 

The 31st exercise my little girl calls the see- 
saw. In the beginning of the movement both 
stand erect. The child performs a deep-knee 
bend, as in Figure 31, and as it comes to the 
starting position the parent, bends, one assisting 
the other in maintaining the proper balance. 

In Exercise 32 the child lies on its back and 
raises its legs. It should endeavor to bring the 
feet backward till the hand of the parent is 
touched. (See illustration, Figure 32.) This 
should be persevered in till the child can touch 
the floor with the toes, as in the following illus- 
tration. 

Exercise 33 is rather difficult if the child at- 
tempts to accompUsh it without the preUminary 
work as shown in the preceding movement. 
This is an excellent exercise to strengthen the 
abdominal muscles and keep the back muscles 
supple. 

The last movement. Figure 34, is a competi- 
tive one, as the parent strives to touch the floor 
more easily than the child. It is better to let the 
youngster win out at first in order to encourage 
it. Try to touch the floor without bending the 




Fig. 33. — Roly-Poly Exercise 
The preliminary work as shown in Fig. 32 should be given 
before this exercise is attempted. This exercise strengthens 
the abdominal muscles and gives elasticity to the back mus- 
cles 



Exercise for the Growing Child 87 

knees. Some children, on account of their elas- 
ticity, can, after practice, touch the floor with 
the palms of the hands. In finishing these exer- 
cises raise the arms above the head, inhaling 
deeply, then, holding the breath, bend forward 
as in the last exercise, return to starting posi- 
tion, and exhale. Select 2 or 3 of the exercises 
in the chapter on deep breathing. The breath- 
ing may be made competitive, parent and child 
trying to outdo each other in taking a big 
breath. 

The first day perform each exercise one time, 
increasing one each day for a week. At the end 
of a week the child will be doing each move- 
ment seven times. After this, increase each 
movement one time every week till twelve or 
fifteen times are reached, or till it is determined 
what amount is best suited to the child's in- 
dividual needs. 

These exercises are especially beneficial to 
the mother, doing her almost as much good as 
the child. 

The play of the child should be well regulated 
by both the parent and teacher. Children with 
organic weaknesses should be restricted from 
violent and exhausting games. Prolonged com- 
petitive events are dangerous. Play or exercise 



88 Keeping Physically Fit 

dangerous to life should be excluded or care- 
fully controlled. Over-anxiety, a mania to win 
or excel, should not be mistaken for courage. 

The vicious fighting element should be re- 
strained. When a child manifests a tendency 
to be rude, ill-natured, or to lie and cheat, he 
should be promptly corrected. Ethical degen- 
eration is far worse than all the bruises, sprains, 
and broken bones caused by play and games. 
Parents should be careful not to praise a child 
for a certain act one day and censure it for the 
same another time, as no child can run its men- 
tal or moral train of thought properly when 
there is such a confusion of signals. 

Severe, arbitrary punishment is usually un- 
just and unwise. It has not proved itself an 
inspiration to goodness in the army and navy 
or in prisons. The child should always be al- 
lowed to speak in its own defense. Circmnstan- 
tial evidence, which plays so cruel a part in 
human injustice in many criminal trials, should 
be carefully sifted in a nursery court-martial. 
By the time all the evidence is in, the judge 
(parent) has had time to grow calm, and make 
the punishment awarded later seem a natural 
act of justice. We see in children the image of 
ourselves, and quite often their naughtiness is 




Fig. 34.— The Great-Bend Exercise 
Without bending the knees, encourage the child to bend 
forward and touch the floor as in Fig. 34. Finish the exer- 
cising by using one or two deep breathing movements as 
illustrated in Chapter IV. 



90 Keeping Physically Fit 

but the reflection of our own individuahty. In 
the teaching and punishment of the child we as 
parents should realize that we are merely trus- 
tees and not proprietors. This physical and 
mental training of the child should be started 
early in life, when the body and mind are very 
plastic. It is easier to extinguish the hghted 
match than the conflagration it inspires. It is 
easier to straighten a saphng than the gnarled 
oak. 



CHAPTER IV 

DEEP-BREATHING EXERCISES 

Deep, purposeful breathing in the open air 
prevents the accumulation of fat, as it acts like 
a pair of active bellows on a furnace fire. It 
quickens the digestive processes, eats up food 
rapidly, and quickly gets rid of waste products. 

If, then, one fails to breath deeply he in like 
proportion fails to five correctly. The average 
woman needs deep breathing more than man, 
due to the fact that she is less active, and the 
breathing is necessarily more shallow. Again, 
the kind of dress worn by women restricts the 
breathing, especially in the upper part of the 
chest. 

The average woman gives very httle thought 
to the art of breathing, because this simple 
though very important process goes on con- 
stantly whether she takes note of the fact or 
not. She receives food into the stomach but a 
few times daily, while air is taken into the lungs 
fifteen or twenty times each minute. This air 
undergoes in the lungs a species of digestion, 

91 



92 Keeping Physically Fit 

and this process goes on without any inter- 
mission both day and night during her lifetime. 
She can live but a few minutes without breath- 
ing, consequently the act is one of the great- 
est factors in keeping fit physically. 

The Breathing Organs 

In order that the act of breathing may be 
better understood, I shall give a short review 
of the physiology of the chest and lungs. The 
lungs, or organs of respiration, with the heart 
between them, are situated in the thorax or 
chest and are separated from the stomach and 
intestines and other organs of the abdomen by 
the broad umbrella-shaped bridge, or muscle 
extending across the body, called the diaphragm. 
When one is about to inhale air, the muscular 
fibers in this membrane contract in such a man- 
ner as to bring the diaphragm more nearly to a 
level or plane than it was before, enlarging the 
cavity of the chest and thus causing a negative 
pressure, often spoken of as a ^'vacuum/' The 
air rushes through the mouth and nostrils,^ tra- 
chea or windpipe, and bronchial tubes, to equal- 
ize the pressure in the lungs with that outside. 
This is called in-breathing, or inspiration. Out- 
breathing, or the act of expiration, is caused by 



94 Keeping Physically Fit 

the diaphragm's being pushed upward against 
the lungs by the contraction of the muscles 
of the abdomen; the walls of the chest con- 
tract, the ribs being pulled downward by the 
muscles. 

The size of the chest is greatly diminished by 
these movements, and the air is pressed out of 
the lungs through the air-tubes, bronchi, larjoix, 
and nostrils. For the function of breathing, 
one possesses a bellows-like arrangement which 
alternately contracts and expands under the 
control of the nervous system, bearing a close 
analogy in its mode of action to the apparatus 
employed in the circulation of the blood. Each 
consists essentially of a kind of pump which 
propels one fluid, and the other air, through a 
series of ramified tubes, the difference being 
that in the lungs the inflow and outflow pipes 
are the same. 

Although one can breathe through either the 
mouth or the nostrils, the latter are the natural 
air-passages, inasmuch as they are always open. 
The larynx or opening into the windpipe is sit- 
uated in front of the throat, and is protected by 
a kind of lid, called the epiglottis, which imme- 
diately closes under the impulse of reflex nerv- 
ous action whenever any particle of food or 



Deep-Breathing Exercises 95 

drink is about to be swallowed. The larynx 
containing the vocal cords is continuous with 
the trachea or windpipe. The trachea divides 
into two branches called the bronchi. Each 
bronchus enters the lung on its own side and 
divides into a large number of small branches 
called bronchial tubes. In the nose the air is 
warmed and moistened and the coarse particles 
of dust, etc., are left clinging to the damp and 
sticky surface. In all exercises which call for 
deep breathing such as cycling, running, moun- 
taineering, rowing, and most games, the breath 
should be taken in as much as possible through 
the nostrils. When the organs of breathing are 
forced into stronger action, the possible harm 
which may be done by dry, cold, or dust-laden 
air is correspondingly increased. 

Force in Inspiration and Expiration 

The lungs are not, as some seem to think, a 
support for the chest walls, but, on the con- 
trary, tend to suck them in. Dr. Henry Camp- 
bell of London shows the elastic force or suction 
exerted by the lungs under varying degrees of 
expansion as follows: — 

At the end of an extraordinary expiration 
nun. Hg. 



96 Keeping Physically Fit 

At the end of an ordinary expiration, 5 mm. 
Hg. 

At the end of an ordinary inspiration, 10 
mm. Hg. 

At the end of an extraordinary^ inspiration, 
30 mm. Hg. 
The elasticity of the lungs, in fact of all the 
tissues of the body, tends to beoome less with 
advancing years. When the skin loses its elas- 
ticity it becomes wrinkled and on account of 
its being permanently stretched and no longer 
tightly adapting itself to the underlying struc- 
ture, is tliro\\m into folds. What is true of the 
skin is also true of the lungs; the elasticity and 
suction they exert diminish. 

]\Iany women visit the massage expert, men 
the barber shop, in order to have the face mas- 
saged. It is observed that massage of the face 
tends to keep away wrinkles, and gives a healthy 
glow to the skin, making its functions more ac- 
tive. Just as the skin may be preserved and 
nourished by a rich supply of blood through the 
agency of massage and proper care, so may the 
suction and elastic properties of the lungs be 
preserved by the ^'massage'' or deep-breathing 
exercises such as are illustrated in this paper. Of 
course, the lungs should be carefully protected 







c^ 

-5^ 






!« 



o 
P. 



98 Keeping Physically Fit 

from bronchitis, pneumonia, coughing, etc., and 
all straining exercises where the thorax remains 
fixed should be avoided. 

A number of men have experimented in de- 
termining the force of the inspiratory and ex- 
piratory muscles. The early workers were Hales 
and Hutchinson of England, while those of 
more recent date are Bonders and Waldenburg 
of Germany. This force is measured by means 
of a graduated U-shaped glass tube partly filled 
with mercury to one end of which is attached a 
flexible tube, which is applied to the mouth or 
nose. In ordinary breathing, according to 
Waldenburg, the mercury moves from 1 to 2 
mm. ; in forced breathing the movement is much 
greater. 

In average adult men, inspiratory force varies 
from 80 to 100 mm. Hg., expiratory force from 
100 to 130 mm. Hg. In women the former is 
represented by from 60 to 80 mm. Hg., the 
latter by from 20 to 1 10 mm. Hg. It will be seen 
by these figures that expiratory force is about 
one-third greater than inspiratory force. 

A Chest Developer 

The chest is enlarged by elevation of the ribs 
and the descent of the diaphragm. The eleva- 




^1^ 

-03 - 
§.2 



•s* 



^1 

,0-^3 

O >J 
P. hD 

s ^^ 

C 



100 Keeping Physically Fit 

tion of the ribs increases the sagittal and lateral 
diameters and the descent of the diaphragm 
increases the vertical diameter. 

In ordinary breathing the average person has 
very httle rib movement especially in the upper 
part of the chest, respiration being chiefly ab- 
dominal. It is during fast walking, running, ath- 
letics, gymnastics, swimming, games, and special 
deep-breathing exercises, such as are illustrated 
here, that the upper diameter of the chest is 
brought into vigorous action. In the civihzed 
woman it is the upper part of the chest that is 
mostly used, but this type of breathing is not 
a natural one, due to the fact that the dia- 
phragmatic action is correspondingly curtailed 
on account of the restricting influence of stays 
which interfere with the free descent of the di- 
aphragm and the expansion of the lower bony 
cage. It is for this reason, claims Gibson, an 
authority on the lungs, that after the age of 
fourteen the lower transverse diameter of the 
chest is less in the civilized woman than the 
upper, the reverse being the case in mail. It 
naturally follows, then, if tight dress or restrict- 
ing corsets are worn, that chest development 
will be retarded. The practice of tight lacing 
common among the fashionably dressed women 



Deep-Breathing Exercises 101 

of a few years ago was criminal because it not 
only impeded proper breathing, but cramped 
the action of the heart, stomach, and other in- 
ternal organs, and thereby injured them. Deep 
breathing is the best chest developer. 

I found my chest larger after a two days' 
walk of one hundred miles than before. Ath- 
letes who do nothing but run, get a larger girth 
of chest. Of course, the swing of the arms assists 
in this, but the greater portion of the develop- 
ment is due to the deep breathing. 

There are so many forms of breathing ad- 
vocated for singers and others that one is apt 
to become confused. The following are some 
of the forms that are recommended; Clavicular, 
pure lower costal, lower costo-abdominal, pure 
abdominal, and abdominal-costal. 

Each of these systems has its devotees, and 
I shall not try to discuss them pro and con, but 
shall direct attention to what I consider the best 
kind of deep-breathing exercises. The above 
systems may be better for singers, but the ex- 
ercises herein illustrated are the most efficient 
for the woman who desires a large and elastic 
chest and bust. 

There are some modifications in normal re- 
spiratory movements in such acts as singing, 



102 Keeping Physically Fit 

crying, shouting, coughing, sighing and talking, 
which require considerable nervous and muscu- 
lar energy, and they have a beneficial influence 
upon the functions of the body. 

To interfere with these acts is sometimes in- 
jurious. Take the child, for instance; it is not 
always best to repress its cry. Dr. Campbell 
claims that crying, especially in women, favors 
the proper expansion of the lungs, accelerates 
the circulation of the blood, deadens the effects 
of pain, and relieves nerve tension. Some one 
has said that women who are able to find relief 
in tears, keep their youth longer than those who 
repress them. Singing is beneficial because it 
develops the chest and tends to ward off diseases 
of the lungs. Professional singers are compara- 
tively free from pulmonary disease. To be a 
public singer one must have a good chest devel- 
opment and take both breathing and muscular 
exercises; in fact, the famous singer must live 
a hygienic life. I frequently have the students 
in the gymnastic classes sing a college song 
while performing dancing steps or other Ught 
exercises, not only for pleasing variety, but on 
account of the benefit to the lungs. Children 
should be taught to sing both at home and in 
school. 




A B 

Fig. 38 
From starting position, Fig. 1, position 1, raise arms side- 
ward as in position A, inhaling. Bring arms forward and 
lower head forward as in position B, exhahng. Lower arms 
and repeat. 



104 Keeping Physically Fit 

The act of shouting is emotional. The shout- 
ing of children at play is the outcome of exu- 
berant emotion and pent-up-neuro muscular 
energy and the game or play is enchanced by 
this outburst. When I was a physical director 
in the Y. M. C. A., and had more than a hundred 
boys between the ages of twelve and sixteen 
years in my charge, I often resorted to the fol- 
lowing. When the boys were in school all day, 
under restraint and bubbhng over with neuro- 
muscular energy so I could hardly get their 
attention, I would take out my watch and 
announce that I desired every boy to shout and 
yell for the following five minutes. It always 
worked like a charm. In hke manner, the 
hurrahs of the applauding multitude, the yells 
of frenzied baseball fans, the cheering of specta- 
tors at a football game, may so exalt the emotion 
as to induce a condition bordering upon ecstasy. 
Shouting is an emotion that is spontaneous with 
both the individual and the mass and should 
not be repressed. Women should shout at every 
opportunity, and if this is denied them, singing 
should take its place. 

Yawning is another excellent lung exercise, 
but is often repressed, especially in society. It 
seems to be an effort upon the part of nature 



Deep-Breathing Exercises 105 

to arouse one from a cramped or tiresome 
position of the body. There is a tendency to 
yawn and stretch when one awakens in the morn- 
ing and one should encourage these and stretch 
in every conceivable way. The cat yawns and 
stretches a great deal upon awakening and 
usually the lower animals do nothing unnatural. 
The act of laughing is very stimulating to the 
system and an excellent form of breathing ac- 
companies it. It is nature's device for exercising 
the internal organs and giving pleasure at the 
same time. Laughter begins in the lungs and 
diaphragm, setting the liver, stomach, and other 
internal organs in a quick jelly-hke vibration, v 
which gives a pleasant sensation and exercise 
almost equal to horseback riding. It brightens 
the eye, increases perspiration, and expands the 
chest. That exquisite poise called health, which 
is overbalanced by a sleepless night, bad news, 
grief, or anxiety, is often righted and wholly re- 
stored by a hearty laugh. ^^ Laugh and grow 
fat" has become proverbial. A laughing sunny 
person brightens and cheers every one with 
whom he comes in contact. Certainly laughter 
doeth good like medicine, not only to the physi- 
cian who prescribes it but to the patient who 
receives it. 



106 Keeping Physically Fit 

Talking is an act that is beneficial especially 
to the lungs. The nervous energy underlying 
thought is discharged to the muscles involved 
in speech and gesture. Both voice and gesture 
can be modified to convey subtile shades of 
thought and feeling, which cannot find expres- 
sion in writing. Talking then is stimulating 
in proportion to the gesture accompanying it. 
We can see how impressive gesture is in the 
movement of the arm in the German and the 
shrug of the shoulder in the Frenchman, the 
minister and the public speaker, in order to 
emphasize what is being said, and they thereby 
get more physical exercise than one would sup- 
pose. 

School teachers and those who use the voice 
much diu-ing the day need less physical training 
than others. In fact, few things are more cal- 
culated to stimulate the body or to arouse it 
from lethargy than animated conversation. In 
talking as in laughing, singing, shouting and 
crying, in-breathing is short, while out-breathing 
is prolonged, and this is an excellent form of 
lung gymnastics. Dr. Campbell claims that 
talking is conducive to longevity. 




A B 

Fig. 39 
From position A, hands behind neck, head lowered for- 
ward and elbows forward, inhale deeply as elbows are forced 
backward and head raised as in position B. Exhale from B 
to A position. 



108 Keeping Physically Fit 

Its Effects and the Best Kind of Exercises 

Deep breathing highly oxygenates the blood 
and eliminates waste products from the body. 
There is an exchange of gases which takes place 
between the capillaries and the tissues in which 
the blood from the lungs parts with its oxygen 
and absorbs carbon dioxide which is thrown out 
in the breath. The brain is affected by deep 
breathing as is shown by its tendency to cause 
giddiness, but this feeling soon wears off in those 
who cultivate the habit. 

W. Marcet, M. D., F. R. S., says that deep 
breathing increases the power of sustained 
nervous effort. He claims that a man who in 
ordinary breathing lifted a weight of four pounds 
two hundred times in succession after a rest 
and deep breathing for two minutes lifted the 
same weight seven hundred times. 

Deep breathing quiets the nerves and is use- 
ful in neurasthenia as it increases the will power. 
When troubled with insomnia I have secured 
sleep by going to an open window and taking 
deep breaths for five minutes. I know of many 
others whom the same treatment helped. 

Deep breathing will very often relieve consti- 
pation and indigestion, due to the vigorous rise 



110 Keeping Physically Fit 

and fall of the diaphragm. Add to this the in- 
fluence of powerfully oxygenated blood, and the 
intestines perform their peristaltic movements, 
which are necessary for digestion, with more 
energy. 

Exercise is especially effective in relieving 
constipation. In medical gymnastics, deep- 
breathing exercises are used in anaemia, nervous 
and digestive disorders of the circulation. 

Now for the exercises. In deep-breathing ex- 
ercises we should aim for the following results: 
to strength the muscles of ordinary breathing, 
as the diaphragm; to strengthen the extra mus- 
cles of breathing such as those of the shoulders, 
arms, and back. We should endeavor to pre- 
serve and increase the elasticity of the lungs, to 
develop evenly all their parts, to heighten per- 
manently their capacity. Still other objects 
should be to expand the chest, to deepen the 
ordinary breathing and reduce its rate, and 
stimulate the circulation of the blood. There 
are thousands of air cells in the lungs that or- 
dinarily are inactive and are used only in the 
act of deep breathing. If one persists in deep 
breathing for some time these dormant cells 
eventually associate in the ordinary act of 
breathing. 




Fig. 41 
Hands clasped across abdomen, inhale and press in for- 
cibly as in position A. Exhale and release as in position B. 
Perform each of the seven deep breathing exercises from 
five to ten times each. 



112 Keeping Physically Fit 

The best deep-breathing exercises are those 
that are accompanied by muscular positions 
and movements which favor or assist the act of 
in-breathing and out-breathing. Authorities dif- 
fer as to whether or not more air is received in 
the lungs in the various muscular movements 
which I have used in this article. While they 
are fighting it out we shall use the arms, head, 
shoulders, etc., in connection with deep breath- 
ing, because these movements do strengthen 
the muscles required in this act, and give the re- 
sults that we are seeking. 

Some physical culturists advocate taking a 
deep breath and holding it for a considerable 
time. I can see no good results from this 
method, but rather an injury as the lungs are 
liable to strain, and again, this would mean the 
reabsorption of air that should be expelled. Of 
course, holding the breath a few seconds, as in 
singing, and laughing, or bending forward, as 
in Fig. 12, Chapter I is not injurious, but rather 
beneficial. 

You will observe that the muscular positions 
tend to favor the inspiration during the in- 
breathing, and to contract the chest during the 
out-breathing, in order to expel more air in the 
ordinary expiration. If the lungs become sore or 



Deep-Breathing Exercises 113 

if you get dizzy at first, decrease the amount. 
I am leaving the amount of exercise that should 
be performed daily to your judgment, just as you 
must determine the amount of food that you 
should eat. The best time to do your deep 
breathing is in the morning before dressing, as 
tight or encumbering dress restricts freedom of 
motion. Any time, however, is better than the 
omission of these lung gymnastics. Dinging the 
day, when the chest feels cramped, go to an open 
window, practice one or two of these exercises, 
and you will be surprised at the refreshed feel- 
ing. 

Now, in closing, let me say a word concerning 
fresh air. It is as important to get this as it is 
to breathe deeply. Be sure you have plenty of 
fresh air during sleeping hours. There will be 
difficulties to overcome in the sleeping apart- 
ment during the winter, but if you realize that 
fresh air is very necessary, your ingenuity will 
solve the problem. Re-read this chapter, start 
the breathing exercises, practice them six 
months, and, well, I shall let you pass your own 
judgment regarding their merit. 



CHAPTER V 

ADDITIONAL METHODS FOR KEEPING FIT 

The first thing to consider in keeping phys- 
ically fit is a look forward to the welfare of the 
succeeding generation. In other words, the all 
important thing is to be well born. 

This being well born, or the new movement 
called ^'Eugenics," is an application of modern 
science to improve the race. It is not, as some 
seem to think, anything like the old Spartan 
practice of infanticide, but, as the Greek deri- 
vation of the word shows, the science of right 
breeding. Sir Francis Galton invented the word 
to express his ideal for founding a world move- 
ment to improve mankind. Eugenics does not 
propose to do violence to any humanitarian or 
Christian effort nor does it sanction '^compul- 
sory or governmentrmade marriages." It does, 
however, advocate proper mating and love mar- 
riages. When men and women come to see and 
admire, as in ancient Greece, the ideally phys- 
ical perfect they will fall in love on that basis 
and not through ambition to acquire property 
or title. The farmer selects the best seed for 

114 



Additional Methods for Keeping Fit 115 

propagation and the best hvestock for breeding. 
In hke manner intelhgent thought should be 
given to the birth and rearing of the child. Par- 
ents should be well mated, healthy, and strong, 
in order to produce vigorous children. 

If a child's bodily foundation is weakened on 
account of heredity it means that much of the 
child's future life will be spent in propping up 
and fortifying weak parts in order to ward off 
a tendency to sickness and disease and, in some 
cases, even to keep alive. The child's fitness up 
to the tiine it is capable of doing things for itself 
should be governed by its parents. Special pains 
should be taken to inform the child concerning 
things of a sexual nature. If the parent does not 
impart this knowledge, then it will come from 
the street or some other vicious or questionable 
quarter. The so-called modesty which with- 
holds untainted sexual instruction from the 
child is farcical and nothing short of criminal 
negligence. Rather than omit this duty en- 
tirely I should even advocate that a father in- 
form his daughter or a mother her son. 

In sex hygiene ^' a little knowledge is a danger- 
ous thing," and the parent should not stop with 
partial instruction, enough to cause inquisitive- 
ness, but should discuss the subject thoroughly 



116 Keeping Physically Fit 

and with tact. If to be forewarned is to be fore- 
armed, then let us give the child those imple- 
ments of warfare in the form of sound and whole- 
some advice, experience which we adults have 
gained in the hard and exacting school of ex- 
perience, in order that the child may be able to 
defend itseh against immoral contagion. The 
saying ''Where ignorance is bhss it is folly to be 
wise" is misleading because the American child 
is wise concerning things of a sexual character 
in most cases before he reaches his teens. 

The American parent as a rule does not teach 
the child and so the subject of sexual hygiene 
should be taught in the school or college. I 
would not for a moment, however, advocate that 
the ordinary teacher impart this knowledge. 
Just as specially trained physical directors and 
medical inspectors are employed in the school 
system, so should sexual hygiene be taught by 
a specialist. Systematic instruction in sexual 
hygiene would go far to solve our present and 
complex divorce problem. The granting of 
divorces has been growing steadily for the past 
decade. In the community at large there is a 
divorce for every eleven marriages. Among 
graduates of women's colleges the percentage 
of divorces has been very low. In Smith College, 



Additional Methods for Keeping Fit 117 

but one in eighty-seven graduates have gone 
through the divorce courts and Vassar claims 
an even smaller percentage. It is true also that 
the percentage of divorces among men graduates 
is less than among men in general. Scarcely 
any college class has a divorce for each eleven 
marriages, and any list of alumni as a whole is 
far below the general average. 

If sexual hygiene were taught to our children 
in school or in college they would avoid those 
follies of youth that are so apt to produce a life 
of disease and distress ever after. Ex-President 
of Harvard, Dr. Charles W. Ehot, beheves that 
in order to prevent disasters to the young that 
arise from ignorance, systematic instruction 
should be given. ^'The policy of silence" says 
Dr. Eliot, ^^has failed everywhere. If anyone 
protests that this educational process will abol- 
ish innocence and make a matter of common talk 
the tenderest and most intimate concerns in 
human life, let him consider that virtue and not 
innocence is manifestly God's object and end 
for humanity." 

Good Eating and Drinking 

The next condition in keeping fit is the forma- 
tion and cultivation of proper habits. There are 



118 Keeping Physically Fit 

so many theories concerning our dietary that 
one is apt to become confused. Some advocate 
fasting from one to thirty days. Others believe 
that we cannot eat too much, while still others 
favor diets exclusively of flesh or vegetables or 
raw foods. While the statement of Thomas 
Jefferson that ^'No man when he comes to die 
will ever repent of having eaten too little/' is 
very true, still the fasting enthusiast is usually 
an extremist and may do irreparable injury to 
his nervous system. Upton Sinclair and other 
writers have recently so eulogized the fast that 
it has almost become a fad, and a dangerous one, 
especially when employed without careful med- 
ical advice and supervision. 

Food is an essential to life and the body is 
constantly using up material. If food is with- 
held the body will consume itself and thereby 
lose weight. The effects of this consumption of 
the body tissues to supply the necessary demand 
for food are well known among the medical 
profession, for they have been carefully studied 
in certain diseases in which the body consumes 
itself, such as diabetes. In advanced stages of 
this disease the body lacks the ability to utilize 
ordinary food to such a degree that for the main- 
tenance of life it is compelled to draw upon the 



Additional Methods for Keeping Fit 119 

muscles and other tissues for sustenance. The 
studies that have been made of these conditions 
have shown that whenever the body is com- 
pelled to feed upon itself, certain deadly poisons 
are formed which have a most deleterious effect, 
and when produced in sufficient quantity, result 
in death. A rest of the digestive apparatus for 
a meal or even a day may produce good results 
in certain stages of obesity or in indigestion, but 
the better plan would be to reduce the amount 
and the kind of food. Why should one throw 
away forty or fifty pounds of good sound tissue 
for the purpose of eliminating two pounds of 
waste. The price is too great and the experiment 
too dangerous. 

Woods Hutchinson, M. D., claims that the 
body does not absorb more wholesome food than 
is good for it, and that what is not needed is 
thrown off by the organs of elimination. He 
epigrammatically claims that '^Man biolog- 
ically considered, is nothing but a stomach and 
its appendages. The stomach is the real seat 
of the emotions, and the physiologic home of 
the soul. As with money on a journey, to have 
enough you must always have too much.'' 
Solomon was a wise old man and put overeating 
(gluttony) and drunkenness in the same class, 



120 Keeping Physically Fit 

stating that these would result in poverty (Prov. 
23:21). Overeating, like any other bad habit, 
grows on one, and Holy Writ again informs us 
that Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of pot- 
tage. Just think of a man selling his inheritance 
for one overindulgence at the festive board. In 
overeating where can one draw the line, how 
much may he eat? Too much of anything is 
too much and especially is this true of eating, as 
can be seen in the increase of diseases due to 
faulty metabolism or errors of eating, while on 
the other hand contagious diseases are decreas- 
ing. 

Dr. Hutchinson further contends that the 
frugal poor have the highest death rate, a phe- 
nomenon due to the dangers of underfeeding. 
The mortality of the poor is greater than among 
the more fortunate. Undereating may raise the 
death rate, but improper eating of greasy, ill 
prepared foods, together with an unhygienic, 
congested environinent is much more respon- 
sible for this condition. 

Sir Lauder Brunton of England says: ^'More 
people in this country shorten their lives by 
overeating than by starvation, and an unneces- 
sary excess of animal food not only leads to phys- 
ical disorders, but to an irritable and irascible 



Additional Methods for Keeping Fit 121 

frame of mind.'^ This is just as true in America. 
No sensible person will contest the statepient 
that over-activity of an organ may be followed 
by its exhaustion. This is what happens when 
great quantities of food are eaten. The stomach, 
liver, kidneys, pancreas, and intestines become 
exhausted and these instead of eliminating cer- 
tain poisons throw them out into the system, 
causing disease. The proverb of the early Ro- 
mans that '^Everything in excess becomes a 
vice'^ is especially applicable to overeating and 
overdrinking. 

Doctor Harvey, discoverer of the circulation 
of the blood, in his report on the autopsy of 
Thomas Parr of England who is said to have 
lived to the age of one hundred and fifty-two 
years and nine months, attributed his death to 
the change from his frugal diet of cheese, milk in 
every form, and coarse hard bread, to the rich 
feeding he received in London. The present life 
free from care, owing to its simplicity, con- 
tributed to his very advanced age or, as Harvey 
pithily put it, ''sorry fare, but free from care.'' 

In contrast to Parr, Conarro became ill at 
forty through immoderate living. He recovered 
his health by reducing his food to the necessary 
amount only and then lived, happy and healthy. 



122 Keeping Physically Fit 

to one hundred years. Horace Fletcher and 
others have recovered their health through mod- 
eration in eating after having come near to 
death by excesses. 

Professor Bouchard, the eminent French 
physiologist, shows that combustion in the body 
gives rise to the same ultimate products as burn- 
ing outside of the body, that the system is a 
great factory of poisons. Bread, potatoes or 
fat burned in a furnace produce not only heat 
but smoke, ashes, and possibly imperfectly 
burned products. The same products are found 
when foods are burned in the body. Poisonous 
gases such as carbon dioxide are carried off by 
the lungs. The ashes are carried off by the 
kidneys, while imperfectly burned products cor- 
responding to the cinders, ashes, and clinkers 
of coal or wood, may be left in, the tissues caus- 
ing mischief later. A fire choked with ashes as 
in overeating does not draw well and burns with 
difficulty. This residuum may, in the case of the 
human furnace, result in an excess of fat. I can- 
not see the sense of carrying around hfty or 
more pounds of '^ excess baggage" — superfluous 
flesh. The fire may go out for two causes. 
Either it needs fuel, as in fasting, or it is 
choked, as in overeating. 



Additional Methods for Keeping Fit 123 

All articles of diet can be classified under 
three principal heads, — proteids, carbohydrates, 
and fats. 

If the average man weighing 150 pounds re- 
quires about sixty grammes (2 ounces) of pro- 
tein a day, the hardest working person would 
not require more than double that amount or 
four ounces. According to these figures we are 
nearly all eating too much protein and with 
serious results. The proteins are the structure- 
builders of the body. They are comparable to 
the iron and steel that are used from time to 
time to repair the engine and replace worn parts 
of the locomotive, while the starches, fats, and 
sugars, are the coal that feeds it. The body is 
unable to store up proteins. When one eats 
more of this substance than is daily required to 
replenish the waste of the body, it must be im- 
mediately split up in the system, and its irritat- 
ing ashes (poisons) carried off by the eliminating 
organs. The overeating of sugars, starches, or 
fats, is not such a serious matter because they 
may accumulate as fat or add extra fuel to the 
fires of the body. 

One may, while not overeating as far as bulk 
of food is concerned, still be overfed in proteins. 
The low protein diet is better as it favors re- 



124 Keeping Physically Fit 

covery from many diseases such as rheumatism, 
neuralgia, sick headaches, biliousness and many 
forms of indigestion and constipation. It also 
increases the resistance of the body to disease 
and other poisonous influences. As so little 
protein is required in our dietary we can very 
profitably dispense with meat entirely espe- 
cially in the summer time. Meat may be re- 
placed by milk which in healthy stomachs and 
intestines is very easily absorbed. Again milk 
contains in a wonderful combination all the 
three main groups of foods. 

Proper chewing of food is one of the great 
secrets of good digestion. I believe in ' ' Fletcher- 
ism" but not to the extent of chewing the food 
till it becomes liquid or, as someone has said, 
'Hill it swallows itself." The idea of perfect 
mastication may be carried too far, as in the 
rejecting or refusing to swallow bits of fruit, 
vegetable, or cereal pulp that cannot be com- 
pletely liquefied. The cellulose matter contained 
in food is quite necessary in order to increase in- 
testinal activity. Foods such as meats, which 
are completely digested and leave no residue, are 
constipating. One^s diet should consist of a 
laxative and a bulky food. Those of a laxative 
nature are baked apples, pears, tomatoes, barley, 



Additional Methods for Keeping Fit 125 

cherries, grapes, prunes, peaches, strawberries, 
raspberries, currants, green corn, figs, dates, oat- 
meal, plums, grape fruit, and rhubarb. Foods 
which contain bulk and relieve constipation are 
lettuce, celery, carrots, turnips, raw cabbage, 
asparagus, cauliflower, and sterilized bran. 
Foods which are both bulk and laxative are 
whole wheat bread, spinach, dandelion, and 
pineapples. We need bulk just as the horse re- 
quires hay. Too much chewing (Fletcherizing) 
or a too concentrated diet, will make a man, 
like a horse, ''go stale." 

The diet of the ''faddist" should be cau- 
tiously approached and would be better shunned. 
The normal appetite is a trustworthy guide, and 
what one craves is usually what one ought to 
have. The Eskimo, for instance, requires an 
enormous amount of hydrocarbons in order to 
keep up bodily heat, and so he consumes great 
quantities of seal oil and whale blubber. In 
contrast, the inhabitant of the tropical climate 
finds heat-producing food superfluous, and sub- 
sists largely on fruits and grains. If the child 
demand candy it should be supplied in a whole- 
some form such as sugar and fruit. 

The most practical diet for the system is a 
little of everything and not too much of any one 



126 Keeping Physically Fit 

article of food. Chew the food thoroughly and 
omit those things which experience has shown 
to be harmful. It requires about four hours to 
digest a meal and we should not eat oftener 
than every six hours in order to give the diges- 
tive apparatus a couple of hours' rest, and the 
ten-minute rest before and after a meal is a 
digestive aid. 

Water is one of the principal bodily constit- 
uents. It is the agent for dissolving and re- 
moving waste products, and the average person 
should drink from six to ten glasses a day, one 
or two upon rising and retiring, and before 
each meal. Too much liquid during the meal, 
however, dilutes the digestive juices and retards 
digestion. 

Exercise, Air, Bathing, Rest, and Sleep 

The best kind of physical exercise that one 
can indulge in is that which is pleasing, easy, 
beneficial, and safe.. The more one enters into 
the spirit of the exercise the greater the results 
both to mind and body. Exercise may be clas- 
sified, according to ago, as follows: 

Bowling, cricket, golf, horseback riding, 
swimming, and walking, may be indulged in 
freely between the ages of twelve and sixty; 



Additional Methods for Keeping Fit 127 

boxing, wrestling, mountain climbing, and row- 
ing, from sixteen to forty. Calisthenics or '^free 
gjmanastics'^ may be included in the first clas- 
sification as they do not unduly tax any group 
of muscles. Walking as an exercise is second 
to none, as a six-mile daily walk is equivalent 
to the lifting of 150 tons one foot high, from the 
standpoint of physics. Swinuning develops 
every muscle, educates the coordinative powers, 
and as an accomplishment it may mean the 
saving of a life. Daily exercise out of doors 
sharpens the appetite, quickens the digestion, 
and increases the circulation of the blood. Out- 
side of the realm of diet, no other element has 
so great an influence upon bodily nutrition as 
exercise. 

Good Air 
A constant supply of fresh air is the most im- 
portant of the needs of the human body. One 
would think that eating and dressing were par- 
amount on account of the attention given them, 
whereas were the process of breathing interfered 
with for but five minutes, one would die. The 
air should be pure as well as fresh. The problem 
that confronts the builder of to-day is to con- 
struct houses and public places so that the rooms 
may be constantly flushed with fresh pure air. 



128 Keeping Physically Fit 

In the long ago, man breathed in the open air 
as did other animals. Later he took to caves, 
which, becoming more elaborate with rooms 
cut in the rock, developed eventually into the 
modern apartment. Men will never return to 
the primitive method of living in the open any 
more than he will assume the walk of the quad- 
ruped. Almost every person knows that stag- 
nant water is impure and will refuse to drink 
it under ordinary circumstances. Stagnant air 
is just as harmful, yet few people insist in like 
manner in avoiding it. From four to five hours 
should be spent in the open air daily where 
possible. As most of us in the cities cannot d6 
this, then our sleeping apartments should have 
a constant supply of fresh air. The sleeping 
porch, sleeping with the head out of the win- 
dow, the use of the window tent and other de- 
vices, will be employed for firesh air sleeping if 
we realize we need pure air and then use our in- 
genuity to get it. 

Good Bathing 

In order to keep fit one must practice daily 
bathing. When one stops to consider that there 
are about two and a half millions of sweat glands 
in the skin, which, if placed end to end, would 



Additional Methods for Keeping Fit 129 

form a body sewer more than ten miles long, it 
behooves him to keep those glands open by daily 
cleansing. While the skin is a protective cover- 
ing for the body, it is also a functionating organ 
as it is richly suppUed with blood vessels and 
nerves that exert a powerful influence upon the 
body for health or disease. 

The cool bath taken in the morning after a 
little exercise is a tonic to the entire system. It 
is one of the best known methods to avoid colds. 
By frequent cold baths, the skin becomes accus- 
tomed to the low temperature, and drafts or sud- 
den exposure are unable to disturb the circula- 
tion of the blood. There is no one curative 
agency better for neurasthenia than cold water 
bathing. The neurotic patient, however, if 
anaemic or under weight, should take the bath in 
a well-heated room, with just a quick dash of 
water in the tub, or a second or two, under a cold 
shower. The method I hke best, considering on 
account of time and efficiency, is to kneel forward 
in a bath tub and pour a pitcher of water upon 
the back of the neck allowing it to run down the 
spine. Then bend backward and pour it on the 
chest. If one feels chilly or the lips appear blue, 
the bath has been too cold and should be tem- 
pered to the requirements of each individual 



130 Keeping Physically Fit 

constitution. Some think they cannot learn to 
take the cold bath, but I have known very weak 
persons to do so with marked results, by follow- 
ing the method I describe here. Begin to take 
the morning bath in July with water as it comes 
from the water-pipes. Continue this daily all 
summer and fall and you will find that you 
have gradually become hardened to the effects 
of the water as it gradually becomes colder dur- 
ing the fall months. 

There are certain forms of organic trouble 
where the cold bath would be undesirable and 
the advice of the family physician should always 
be sought in those cases. 

Good Rest and Sleep 

In chronic fatigue, in neurasthenia, or in phys- 
ical or mental exhaustion, the body requires 
rest. Rest then is an excellent way to alleviate 
fatigue as moderation in work is the best way 
to avoid overfatigue. Letting up on one's ^ 
work or complete cessation of work will not al- 
ways bring the desired results as the cause will 
have to be found and combated. Overeating, 
indulgence in a diet too rich in proteids, free 
drinking of alcoholic liquors, tea, coffee, the use 
of condiments, tobacco, patent medicines, and 



Additional Methods for Keeping Fit 131 

failure to secure exercise, bathing, rest and 
sleep, are causes of poisons. 

The air in the bedroom should be as cool and 
pure as possible and the bed clothes should 
never be put over the mouth. A night spent 
in a room that is too warm never gives the feel- 
ing of freshness and comfort that follows a sleep 
in a cool room. The sleep is likely to be fitful 
and one will arise with a feeling of heaviness in 
the head and a sensation of languor throughout 
the body. Persons suffering with insomnia 
should devote their evenings to light occupations, 
avoiding visits to places that cause any source of 
undue pressure on the nervous system. People 
leading a sedentary life should take a walk after 
supper. A warm bath before retiring will tend 
to induce sleep, and often a hot foot bath will 
be found sufficient. Those who suffer from 
insomnia should not eat a hearty supper, for an 
overburdened stomach tends to produce night- 
mare. I have often induced sleep by tiring the 
eye. This may be done by gazing upward for 
some time as if one were trying to see the fore- 
head. Bags or pillows stuffed with pine needles 
or hops are soothing and tend to induce sleep. 

The ideal sleeping posture is that in which 
the body reclines on the right side. Sleeping 



132 Keeping Physically Fit 

on the back, especially in the forepart of the 
night, causing mouth breathing, snoring, night- 
mare, dry throat, and prevents the free flow of 
blood from the head. One should learn to sleep 
by turns, first on the right side, then on the left, 
the back, and finally the abdomen. The sleep- 
ing apartment should be dark and free from any 
disturbing noises. In health, one requires about 
eight hours' sleep, while the neurotic or anaemic 
should have from eight to twelve. If the body 
gets the right amount of rest it possesses the 
power of automatic repair. An occasional vaca- 
tion from business is beneficial. One day of 
real rest is necessary in order to keep the human 
mechanism in good working condition for the 
week's work. Saturday should be a national 
holiday given over to sports, recreation, and 
pleasure. More and better work can be per- 
formed in five days when one is physically fit 
than in six days when one is unfit. » 



CHAPTER VI 

MIND VS. BODY 

That the mind dominates the actions and 
expressions of the body is conceded by all writ- 
ers of note who have made a study of the sub- 
ject. Francis Warner, M. D., in his book on 
^^ Physical Expression^' says, '^Mind is the high- 
est faculty of man. What mind is, we do not 
know, and probably we cannot know; but there 
is abundant evidence that mind is in some way 
connected with brain action. '^ 

The body is to a large extent fashioned and 
molded by the thought. If one entertains cer- 
tain thoughts or experiences certain emotions, 
they may have an effect upon his body that will 
prove beyond the power of his will to control. 
For illustration: A man suffering from grief 
may command his features, but he cannot al- 
ways prevent tears from coming into his eyes. 
If tempting food is placed before one, he may 
not show his hunger by any outward sign, but 
he cannot check the flow of saliva. Grief and 
low spirits cause the corners of the mouth to 
droop and betray the state of the mind to the 

133 



134 Keeping Physically Fit 

observer. A pessimistic person will eventually 
wear this '^sign/' on his face continually be- 
cause he is always looking at the world through 
blue spectacles. 

The Face as a Signboard 

On the contrary a bright and sparkling eye 
with a raised tendency of the cheeks and upper 
lip is characteristic of a pleased, contented state 
of mind. Persons who give way to their emo- 
tions will eventually reveal, by the different 
facial muscles, their dispositions. The hues or 
furrows on the face, due to their habitual con- 
traction, will be rendered deeper and more con- 
spicuous. The expression of the countenance, 
such as a frown, ofttimes reveals the thoughts 
and intentions more truly than do words. The 
free expression by outward signs of an emotion 
intensifies it, while the repression, as far as pos- 
sible, will tend to soften and subdue it* These 
results follow partly from the intimate relation 
that exists between almost all the emotions and 
their outward manifestation, and partly from 
the direct influence of exertion on the heart and 
brain. 

Claude Bernard, a great physiologist, claims 
that the least excitement of the nerves reacts 



Mind vs. Body 135 

on the heart, that when the heart is affected it 
reacts on the brain, and the state of the brain 
again reacts, through the pneumogastric nerve, 
on the heart. This goes to prove that under any 
excitement or emotion there will be much mutual 
action and reaction between these, the two most 
important organs of the body. How careful, 
then, one should be of his thoughts and imagina- 
tion and not allow them to tend toward evil or 
disease. The face evidently sympathizes with 
the thoughts, for one who constantly thinks of 
illicit things or lives an immoral life soon begets 
a sensuous eye and an impudent face. A crim- 
inal usually has the hard, repulsive lines of sin 
written on his countenance. High and lofty 
thoughts endow the face with a halo of joy and 
peace. 

The state of mind affects the physique of the 
individual as can be readily seen in the havoc 
such emotions as fear, worry, jealousy and anger 
play upon the constitution, whereas love, hope, 
joy, and contentment, conduce to happiness 
and thereby raise the health tone. As a rule the 
attainment of the heart's desire improves health 
and happiness.. Many individuals lacking en- 
ergy and determination have suddenly aroused 
dormant powers to activity and gained unex- 



136 Keeping Physically Fit 

pected health upon obtaining unlooked for 
success. 

The same is true of persons who have lost 
wealth and have been forced to do what they 
previously considered impossible, though loss 
of wealth and other misfortunes often have an 
opposite effect. The following illustration shows 
how success may act as a powerful stimulant, 
while failure is often a great depressant. It is 
said that a poor man once went to hang him- 
self, but changed his mind, flung away the rope 
and went hurriedly home, because he found a 
vessel full of gold pieces. The man who had 
hidden the gold, when he discovered its loss, 
hanged himself with the rope which the other 
man left. 

Sick Thoughts Lead to Disease 

Sick thoughts, such as worry and melancholy, 
lead to disease. Some persons render > them- 
selves easy victims to the Great Destroyer by 
looking for symptoms of some dreaded disease 
and forming mental pictures of its every feature, 
instead of guarding against disease by changing 
the train of thought toward other subjects. 
Many have contracted consumption and died 
of it simply because the conviction had always 



Mind vs. Body 137 

been thrust upon them that they would die of 
this disease because their parents did; whereas, 
had they chosen outdoor work, exerted their 
will power, hardened the constitution by proper 
eating, drinking, bathing, and by deep breath- 
ing, they would in all probabihty have been 
strong and robust. 

A shooting piece may be loaded with powder, 
ball, etc., and not go off for a century. It is 
only when the powder is ignited that the gun is 
discharged. One may be susceptible to con- 
sumption and live a natural lifetime without 
even a sjniiptom of the disease. It is only when 
the spark of indiscretion or unhygienic living 
is applied that there is danger. Then the dis- 
ease may fan itself into a flame till it burns 
out the life of its victim. Persons who have a 
hereditary tendency toward certain diseases 
should avoid all thoughts of these and banish 
even the suggestion of others regarding them, 
and live above the health mark. It is when 
one's system gets below par, beneath the health 
mark, that diseases like vultures creep in to rob 
one of the health that it is his privilege to enjoy. 

Fear and worry might be called twin emotions. 
Where fear is, worry is apt to be in close proxim- 
ity, and vice versa, and both leave their effect 



138 Keeping Physically Fit 

upon the physique. Fear is a primary instinct 
and is eminently useful. It is the cry of alarm 
raised by the senses which act as bodily protec- 
tion, consequently the organism, through the 
nervous system, assumes a position of defense. 
The cat fears the bark of a dog. The weaker 
animals fear the stronger and it is revealed in 
the nervous clutch of a new-born babe. The 
fear of ghosts and demons in the ignorant van- 
ishes with the advance of education only to be 
replaced and intensified in the educated by the 
fear of microbes and bacteria. Stanley Hall 
says, ^'The pedagogic problem is not to eliminate 
fear, but to gauge it to the power of proper re- 
action." We should fear to do evil, fear to be 
cowardly, jealous, and will to eliminate morbid 
fears. We die a thousand deaths in imagining 
our dissolution in all its hideous forms. We 
contract sickness and disease in dwelling upon 
our subnormal fears. Death is like the interrup- 
tion of consciousness which we call sleep, but 
we have transformed it into a hideous night- 
mare by our degrading fears. 

Constant or intense fear has resulted in dis- 
ease and death. The result of fear plus imag- 
ination is shown in the following illustration: 
A case was reported a few years ago by physi- 



Mind vs. Body 139 

cians of a poor woman in Paris who was bitten 
by a dog near Notre Dame and taken to the 
Hotel Dieu, where the wound was cauterized. 
A student met her in the street a few months 
afterwards and evidenced surprise to see her 
ahve. He informed her that the dog which bit 
her had been mad. Immediately the poor 
woman was seized with spasms of the most 
violent kind. Doctor Buoquoy was at once 
summoned, but he could do nothing, and the 
woman soon died. 

Worry is a life shortener. If what Pro- 
fessor James of Harvard says is true, ^' Every 
small stroke of vice or virtue leaves its ever so 
little scar,'^ then every emotion has the same 
effect upon one's mind. Some persons must 
surely have a badly scarred, warped, shrivelled 
up mind, as they worry over past mistakes, 
follies, and sins. They are troubled constantly 
not only with the present sorrows, but with the 
imaginary fears of what might have been and 
they forecast the future with a gloom and pes- 
simism that leads to sickness and disease. 

Love and Hope 

The influence of love upon the personality 
of an individual tends to health and longevity. 



140 Keeping Physically Fit 

Love of kindred, of friends, of benefactors, of 
home and country all have a similar effect. It 
is one of the most active principles of our nature 
and should be cultivated. Love sustains the 
weary mother during the long and anxious night 
of watching by the couch of her suffering child. 
She may be nearly famished, still she divides 
her last morsel of bread. Perishing with cold, 
she draws the mantle from her own shoulders 
to protect the little one at her side from the 
fury of the elements. The benefactor in his 
love for suffering humanity divides his wealth, 
and we love him for the sacrifice and considera- 
tion. A man of noble character will protect and 
even die for a friend as will one who loves his 
country, and we are thereby helped by the en- 
nobling influence of their deeds. Love of home 
does away with divorce and its members dwell 
together in unity. Love is the father of the 
social virtues, and peoples the world with a 
pure thinking, pure speaking, and pure acting 
race of men and women as its descendants. 

The influence of hope upon the health is uni- 
versally felt and recognized as one of the most 
powerful and permanent emotions that makes 
us what we are. A strong mind always hopes, 
and has cause to hope, because it understands 



Mind vs. Body 141 

the mutability of human affairs, and knows 
how shght a circumstance may change the whole 
course of events. Everything in life may be 
lost, but hope by its own durability and worth 
saves itself. Hope awakens the courage, while 
despondency is the last of all evils. It abandons 
the good, thus giving up the battle of life with 
a resultant dead nothingness. He who implants 
hope and courage in the mind of another is a 
helpful physician. Our hopes are not all real- 
ized, but still we hope. This emotion may have 
a good appetite for breakfast, but indigestion 
may ensue before nightfall. It is a great cal- 
culator, but a bad mathematician. It builds 
castles in the air, and still continues to hope as 
they tumble about its feet. It plays with bub- 
bles as a child with his clay pipe and soapsuds, 
and, when they burst, it still remains buoyant, 
undecayed and unchangeable. 

A Strong and Vigorous Will 

No one thing can contribute more to physical 
fitness than the influence of a strong and vig- 
orous will. Will is the mind itself, willing, or 
having power to will, and not something dis- 
tinct from the mind, therefore the power to will 
comes by willing just as the power to think 



142 Keeping Physically Fit 

comes by thinking. The fatalist to the contrary 
claims that man has no power to change the 
current of his own inclinations, nor yet to go 
against that current. He has power to do as he 
wills, but no power over the volitions them- 
selves. He has no inclination to do right, there- 
fore no power to do so. A true psychology says 
that this statement is fallacious, because in- 
clination is not a fixed quantity. It is subject 
to change, ought to change, and in many re- 
spects is constantly changing. 

We can fight off many of the minor ills of life 
by exercising our will power. It is the multiphc- 
ity of minor ailments which often results in the 
major diseases. Theatrical people must always 
have a good stock of will power on hand on ac- 
count of the ups and downs of a stage life. ' ' No, 
we do not get sick," remarked an actor, '^ because 
we have not the time. Patti aiid a few other 
stars can afford that luxury, but to the majority 
of us it is denied. There are times, however, 
that, had I been at home or a man in private 
life, I could have taken to my bed with as good 
a right to be sick as anyone ever had. I know 
that will power is an excellent tonic, as I have 
turned aside these attacks through sheer neces- 
sity.'^ 



Mind vs. Body 143 

At the age of fifty-five, Sir Walter Scott was 
deeply in debt. He was far from being well, but 
resolved to pay every dollar he owed. The res- 
olution gave new courage to every faculty of the 
mind and every function of the body, and they 
rushed to the rescue under this stimulus. The 
man lived on and the debt was paid. ''It is 
wonderful,'' said Frederick W. Robertson, Eng- 
land's great preacher, ''how views of life depend 
upon exercise and right management of the 
physical constitution." 

Douglas Jerrold was told by his physician that 
he must die. "What," said he, "die and leave 
a family of helpless children? I will not die." 
He lived for many years after the above state- 
ment. "I always find something to keep me 
busy," replied Peter Cooper, when asked how 
he preserved so well his strength of body and. 
mind. "To be constantly doing something is 
the best medicine one can take. I run up and 
down stairs here almost as easily as I did years 
ago, when I never expected that my term would 
run into the nineties." Seneca had an almost 
fatal disease, but he said, "The thought of my 
father, who could not have sustained such a 
blow, restrained rae and I commanded myself 
to live," and he did live. "Youth will never 



144 Keeping Physically Fit 

live to age," says Sidney, ''unless they keep 
themselves in health with exercise, and in heart 
with joy fulness." The body is dependent on 
a strong and vigorous will, and the mind on 
physical fitness. 

A strong, vigorous will is the balance wheel 
that steadies all the movements and functions 
of the body and mind, and gives to one the phys- 
ical poise that is necessary for good health. The 
will power is the great executive in the republic of 
the brain, and if this ruler be weak and vacillat- 
ing, there will be no order or harmony in mind 
or body. He who has the power of concentrat- 
ing his attention and controlling his will can 
emancipate himself from most of the minor 
miseries of life. He may have much cause for 
anxiety, his body may be the seat of severe suf- 
fering, and yet his mind will remain serene and 
unaffected, he may triumph over care and pain. 
Seneca said, ''It is part of the cure to wish to be 
cured." If one wishes to be strong and healthy, 
that itself is an evidence that he can become so 
if he lives rightly. If one has sufficient will power 
to live, despite the fact that his body is racked 
with pain and disease, he has enough power to 
regain health if rational methods be employed. 
The man who is continually telling others about 



Mind vs. Body 145 

his ailments should not be surprised if they be- 
come chronic. Physicians claim that perfect 
health is impossible to the self-dissector — to the 
person ever seeking to discover symptoms that 
indicate disease. Neurasthenia and other nerv- 
ous disorders are aggravated and intensified by 
poring over medical works relating to these 
diseases, and by comparing notes with others 
who are similarly afflicted. 

How shall this strength of will which is so 
desirable in dominating weakness and disease, 
so essential to true greatness and nobleness of 
character, be attained? In part, it is the gift of 
nature, doubtless the result of that physical and 
mental constitution with which some are more 
fortunately endowed, in greater part it is an 
accomplishment possible of attainment just like 
any other mental or physical accomplishment, 
by careful thought and training. Strength of 
character consists of two things, power of will, 
and power of self-restraint. It requires two 
things, therefore, for its existence, strong feel- 
ings and strong command over them. We are 
all at times subjected to worry, fear, and anger 
and sickness, but we should strive through 
the influence of the will to replace these with 
thoughts of kindness, charity, love, hope, and 



146 Keeping Physically Fit 

health. If we do this, we not only become more 
physically fit, but also prove a source of inspira- 
tion and help to the weaker ones with whom we 
come in daily contact. 

Give to the child of to-morrow the right of 
being well-born. Keep him within the great 
laws of hygiene and health until he is able to 
care for himself. Eat moderately of substantial 
foods. Drink water freely. Exercise daily if 
your exercise be but an hour's walk in the open 
air. Keep the body clean by sun, air, and water 
bathing. Get plenty of sleep, and relax when- 
ever possible during the day. Take an oc- 
casional vacation, and avoid stimulants and 
narcotics. Cultivate a cheerful and peaceful 
frame of mind, and learn to control enervating 
emotions sUch as worry, fear, discontent, and 
anger. There may be other considerations, but 
these simple factors will keep you physically fit 
and enable you to carry youth to the border- 
land of a second century. 

Printed in the United States of America. 



'TpHE following pages contain advertisements of a 
few of the Macmillan books on kindred subjects 



Keeping in Condition 

A HANDBOOK ON TRAINING FOR OLDER BOYS 

By harry H. MOORE 

With an Introduction by Clark W. Hetherington, Ph. D. 

Professor of Physical Education, University of Wisconsin 

Cloth, 12mo, i.75 
This volume tells of men who have achieved the vigor of 
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COMMENTS ON "KEEPING IN CONDITION" BY PEOMINENT EDUCA- 
TORS AND OTHERS 

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President, Reed College, Portland, Oregon. 

"Mr. Moore has shown rare judgment both in the selection of 
material and in its arrangement and presentation." — G. B. 
Affleck, Instructor in Hygiene, International Y. M. C. A. College. 



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The Care of the Body 

By R. S. WOODWORTH 

Professor in Columbia University 

Cloth, 12mo, $1.50 

Intended quite as much for the person who regards 
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wise use of these common things. 



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BOOKS BY NATHAN OPPENHEIM 

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Cloth, 12mo, 81.25 

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The Wonderful House that Jack 
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V 



